A Trio of Christmas Poems
Eddi’s Service AD 687, by Rudyard Kipling:
Eddi, priest of St Wilfrid
In his chapel at Manhood End,
Ordered a midnight service
For such as cared to attend.
But the Saxons were keeping Christmas
And the night was stormy as well.
Nobody came to service
Though Eddi rang the bell.
“Wicked weather for walking,”
Said Eddi of Manhood End.
“But I must go on with the service,
For such as care to attend.”
The altar-lamps were lighted—
An old marsh-donkey came,
Bold as a guest invited,
And stared at the guttering flame.
The storm beat on at the windows,
The water splashed on the floor,
And a wet, yoke-weary bullock
Pushed in through the open door.
“How do I know what is greatest,
How do I know what is least?
That is My Father's business,”
Said Eddi, Wilfrid’s priest.
“But three are gathered together—
Listen to me and attend.
I bring good news, my brethren!”
Said Eddi of Manhood End.
And he told the Ox of a Manger,
And a Stall in Bethlehem,
And he spoke to the Ass of a Rider
That rode to Jerusalem.
They steamed and dripped in the chancel,
They listened and never stirred,
While, just as though they were Bishops,
Eddi preached them the Word,
Till the gale blew off on the marshes,
And the windows showed the day,
And the Ox and the Ass together
Wheeled and clattered away.
And when the Saxons mocked him,
Said Eddi of Manhood End,
“I dare not shut His chapel
On such as care to attend.”
A Child of the Snows, by G.K. Chesterton:
There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,
And never before or again,
When the nights are strong with a darkness long
And the dark is alive with rain.
Never we know but in sleet and in snow,
The place where the great fires are,
That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth
And the heart of the earth a star.
And at night we win to the ancient inn
Where the child in the frost is furled.
We follow the feet where all souls meet
At the inn at the end of the world.
The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red
For the flame of the sun is flown.
The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold
And a Child comes forth alone.
Purple and Pall, by Daniel Mitsui:
Caesar Augustus wore purple and pall.
His empire extended from Egypt to Gaul;
His empire extended from Jewry to Spain;
The world was at peace in the days of his reign.
Caesar Augustus had silver and gold.
His subjects were everywhere taxed and enrolled.
He sat on his throne with an orb and a rod.
His senators wished to declare him a god.
Caesar Augustus drank white wine and red.
His enemies either were banished or dead.
He sat on his throne and collected his tax
And felt his mortality creepingly wax.
Summon the Sibyl, his senators said,
To speak with the voice of the gods overhead.
And they will declare, we are certain, that thou
Belongest among them; pray summon her now.
Caesar consented. The Sibyl appeared.
They stood on a hill and he bade her to weird.
They stood on the hill where the money was made;
The goddess of money was nearby displayed.
Tell, O Albunea, canst thou foresee
A victor or ruler more godly than me?
A master of legions more mighty in war?
A pontiff more worthy the lifeblood to pour?
Moving as though in a slumbery trace
The Sibyl Albunea started to dance.
The Sibyl Albunea danced unawoke.
She suddenly looked to the heavens and spoke:
Hearken, O Caesar, to what I descry!
The sun at the peak of the midwinter sky
Has compassed about it a rainbow; behold
Its focus is He whom the Nine Books foretold.
Caesar regarded, as though through a glass,
A boy in a stall with an ox and an ass.
A travel-worn maid took the boy on her lap;
She sang to her son and she offered her pap.
This is the altar of heaven thou seest.
The boy is thy sovran and prophet and priest.
His empire is endless; His subjects are free.
Behold Him, the emperor greater than thee.
Caesar burned incense and offered a prayer.
Together they worshipped, he and the sooth-sayer.
The man-God and God-man was born in a stall.
When Caesar Augustus wore purple and pall.
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