Monday, December 22, 2014

O Happy Christmas Days of Old /
Arthur Wentworth Eaton


O Happy Christmas Days of Old

O happy Christmas days of old,
     When chimes rang out across the snow
That lay its crust on wood and wold,
     On hills above, on fields below.

O happy Christmas days of old,
     When carols clear by children sung
Awoke the starlit evening cold
     And through the silent hamlet rung.

O happy Christmas days of old,
     When holly from the rafters fell,
And bells in moss-grown towers tolled
     The midnight hymn men loved so well.

O happy Christmas days of old,
     When every castle far and near
Its stern portcullis upward rolled
     And welcomed all who came with cheer.

O happy Christmas days of old,
     When poorest beggars ate their fill,
When for the time the meek grew bold,
     And everywhere was right good will.

O happy Christmas days of old.
     When yule logs burned and flames leaped high,
And round the hearth good people told
     Tales of the Christ's nativity.

O happy, happy night of old.
     When, ere the world's first Christmas morn,
Kings of the East brought gifts of gold
     To lay before the newly-born.

O happy Christmas days of old,
     O night that gladdened all below,
Let your sweet spirit us enfold
     Till perfect Christmas joys we know!

~~
Arthur Wentworth Eaton (1849-1937)
from Poems of the Christian Year, 1905

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Arthur Wentworth Eaton biography

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