Poems (Jordan)/Christmas Past
CHRISTMAS PAST
Once, for their mysterious filling, We our empty stockings brought,And warm hands,—so gladly willing All we dreamed, to being wrought.Now, tonight, our hearts are lonely, And in anguish vainly cryFor those vanished forms who, only Can their emptiness supply!
Oh, dear Lord! our patient Father, Thou will not our weeping chide,That the days we used to gather All at home, at Christmastide, We remember?—That e'en nearer Than our joy our sorrow seems?For through tears see we not clearer Heaven's Real for Earthly Dreams?
There we all—again united— Shall to Thee our praises pay,For the joys of Heaven, plighted To earth's hopes on Christmas Day!