YES, take the greenery away That smiled to welcome Christmas Day; Untwine the drooping ivy spray. The holly leaves are dusty all, Whose glossy darkness robed the wall, And one by one the berries fall. Take down the yew, for with a touch The leaflets drop, as wearied much With light and song, unused to such. Poor evergreens! Why proudly claim The glory of your lovely name, So soon meet only for the flame? Another Christmas Day will show Another green and scarlet glow, A fresh array of mistletoe. And this new beauty, arch or crown, Will stiffen, gather dust, grow brown, And in its turn be taken down. To-night the walls will seem so bare! Ah, well, look out, look up, for there The Christmas stars are always fair. They will be shining just as clear Another and another year, O'er all our darkened hemisphere. So Christmas mirth has fleeted fast; The songs of time can never last, And all is buried with the past. But Christmas love and joy and peace Shall never fade and never cease, Of God's goodwill the rich increase. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVERS' INFINITENESS by JOHN DONNE HIPPOLYTUS TEMPORIZES by HILDA DOOLITTLE REVELATION by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE TO THE NIGHTINGALE by JOHN MILTON THE BANISHED LOVER by ABD AL-RAHMAN AL-MUSTAZHIR THE ARGONAUTS (ARGONATUICA): EROS AND HIS MOTHER by APOLLONIUS RHODIUS |