Wednesday, December 25, 2019

A Christmas Carol / Aubrey de Vere


A Christmas Carol

They leave the land of gems and gold,
    The shining portals of the East;
For Him, the woman's Seed foretold,
    They leave the revel and the feast.

To earth their sceptres they have cast,
    And crowns by kings ancestral worn;
They track the lonely Syrian waste;
    They kneel before the Babe new born.

O happy eyes that saw Him first;
    O happy lips that kissed His feet:
Earth slakes at last her ancient thirst;
    With Eden's joy her pulses beat.

True kings are those who thus forsake
    Their kingdoms for the Eternal King;
Serpent, her foot is on thy neck;
    Herod, thou writhest, but canst not sting.

He, He is King, and He alone
    Who lifts that infant hand to bless;
Who makes His mother's knee His throne,
    Yet rules the starry wilderness.

~~
Aubrey Thomas de Vere (1814-1902)
from Christmas: Its origin, celebration and significance as related in prose and verse, 1907

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

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