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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A CAROL FOR CHRISTMAS DAY BEFORE DAWN, by GORDON BOTTOMLEY Poet's Biography First Line: O, bethlem town to-night is cold Last Line: A world more sorrowful than theirs. Subject(s): Christmas Carols; Religion; Theology | |||
O' BETHLEM town to-night is cold, And Bethlem town is very dark; Down tumbling street, on upland wold Stirs neither wife nor patriarch; No travellers the inn-doors seek Where still the gust-stirred signboards creak. The dull, dumb shepherds of the heath Are warm beside their wives in bed; The mildewed manger chills beneath The wet thatch gaping overhead; The ancient stars are tired and dim, And no new star announces Him. Or is it that we cannot hear The least of spiritual songs, And know not some strange joy more near Than too familiar angel-throngs? Of Him the greater is our need Whose life has dwindled to a creed. Because we know the Lord once woke Unto a far-off people's pain, We dream, a numb bewildered folk, That He might think to come again And save, through new enlightening cares, A world more sorrowful than theirs. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MYSTIC BOUNCE by TERRANCE HAYES MATHEMATICS CONSIDERED AS A VICE by ANTHONY HECHT UNHOLY SONNET 11 by MARK JARMAN SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE COMING OF THE PLAGUE by WELDON KEES A LITHUANIAN ELEGY by ROBERT KELLY |
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