A BLESSED CHRISTMAS!!

May the Lord grant grace to know afresh His great love for us this Christmas!

A Christmas Carol poem- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I
The shepherds went their hasty way,And found the lowly stable-shed Where the Virgin-Mother lay: And now they checked their eager tread,For to the Babe, that at her bosom clung,A Mother's song the Virgin-Mother sung.

II
They told her how a glorious light,Streaming from a heavenly throng.Around them shone, suspending night!While sweeter than a mother's song,Blest Angels heralded the Savior's birth,Glory to God on high! and Peace on Earth.

III
She listened to the tale divine,And closer still the Babe she pressed:And while she cried, the Babe is mine!The milk rushed faster to her breast:Joy rose within her, like a summer's morn;Peace, Peace on Earth! the Prince of Peace is born.

IV
Thou Mother of the Prince of Peace,Poor, simple, and of low estate!That strife should vanish, battle cease,O why should this thy soul elate?Sweet Music's loudest note, the Poet's story,Didst thou ne'er love to hear of fame and glory?

V
And is not War a youthful king,A stately Hero clad in mail?Beneath his footsteps laurels spring;Him Earth's majestic monarchs hailTheir friends, their playmate! and his bold bright eye Compels the maiden's love-confessing sigh.

VI
Tell this in some more courtly scene,To maids and youths in robes of state!I am a woman poor and mean,And wherefore is my soul elate.War is a ruffian, all with guilt defiled,That from the aged father's tears his child!

VII
A murderous fiend, by fiends adored,He kills the sire and starves the son;The husband kills, and from her boardSteals all his widow's toil had won;Plunders God's world of beauty; rends awayAll safety from the night, all comfort from the day.

VIII
Then wisely is my soul elate,That strife should vanish, battle cease:I'm poor and of low estate,The Mother of the Prince of Peace.Joy rises in me, like a summer's morn:Peace, Peace on Earth! The Prince of Peace is born!