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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