Christmas
Christmas
Original Text
Toru Dutt, A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (London: C. Kegan Paul, 1880): 183. Internet Archive
1The sky is dark, the snow descends:
2Ring, bells, ring out your merriest chime!
3Jesus is born; the Virgin bends
4Above him. Oh, the happy time!
5No curtains bright-festooned are hung,
6To shield the Infant from the cold;
7The spider-webs alone are slung
8Upon the rafters bare and old.
9On fresh straw lies the little One,
10Not in a palace, but a farm,
11And kindly oxen breathe upon
12His manger-bed to keep it warm.
13White wreaths of snow the roofs attire,
14And o'er them stars the blue adorn,
15And hark! In white the angel-quire
16Sings to the Shepherds, "Christ is born."
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
Data entry: Shraine Leung
RPO Edition
2012