Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHRISTMAS CHILD, by ANNIE MATHESON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CHRISTMAS CHILD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We see not god, yet while we grope
Last Line: Our life!
Subject(s): Children; Christmas; Gifts & Giving; Holidays; Jerusalem; Jesus Christ - Childhood & Youth; Childhood; Nativity, The


WE see not God, yet while we grope,
Some message, stealing softly in,
Through little children, breathes of hope
Amid the darkness and the din,—
Some fragrant bloom or sunbeam ray
At play.

Oh, wondrous eyes, that often seem
To look through all the veils of time,—
Your tears and laughter all a dream,
Your boundless love and trust sublime,—
As though, through a mere Baby-child,
Love smiled!

Eternal Child! With joy we know
That in the infinite of Love,
Where heavenly fires, commingling, glow,
Where broods the Comforter, the Dove,
Within the Godhead's very heart
Thou art!

And still we love (we speak as fools),
In all the greatest souls on earth,
Beyond the wisdom of the schools,
The immortal child; through pain or mirth,
Their grave simplicities that shine,
Divine.

Therefore we needs must find in Him
In whose fair image man was made,
More beautiful what here is dim,
All light what here is mixed with shade,
And, in His symbol undefiled,
A Child!—

The Christmas Child, the Mother fain,
And afterward, when time was ripe,
The Man confronting all men's pain—
A symbol and a threefold type:—
These all in parable fulfil
His will.

If we, for party or for pelf,
Or in our careless, supine ways,
Despoil a child of childhood's self,
That sin the Holy One betrays,
Like Pilate's deed, that sacrificed
The Christ.

God! if we hunger for the bliss
Of children toiled for and caressed,
In Thee is all we seemed to miss:
Oh, clasp us in Thy joy and rest,
Still serving every child we see,
For Thee!

O Christmas joy and Christmas pain—
What are they in the eternal sum?
Love does not count of loss or gain,
If only the beloved one come.
Come, Heart-of-Peace amid the strife,
Our Life!





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