Punch/Volume 147/Issue 3833/On Earth-Peace

by R. Glasgow

ON EARTH—PEACE.

Judge of the passionate hearts of men,
 God of the wintry wind and snow,
Take back the blood-stained year again,
 Give us the Christmas that we know!

No stir of wings sweeps softly by;
 No angel comes with blinding light;
Beneath the wild and wintry sky
 No shepherds watch their flocks to-night.

In the dull thunder of the wind
 We hear the cruel guns afar,
But in the glowering heavens we find
 No guiding, solitary star.
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But lo! on this our Lord's birth-day,
 Lit by the glory whence she came,
Peace, like a warrior, stands at bay,
 A swift, defiant, living flame!

Full-armed she stands in shining mail,
 Erect, serene, unfaltering still,
Shod with a strength that cannot fail,
 Strong with a fierce o'ermastering will.

Where shattered homes and ruins be
 She fights through dark and desperate days;
Beside the watchers on the sea
 She guards the Channel's narrow ways.

Through iron hail and shattering shell,
 Where the dull earth is stained with red,
Fearless she fronts the gates of Hell
 And shields the unforgotten dead.

So stands she, with her all at stake,
 And battles for her own dear life,
That by one victory she may make
 For evermore an end of strife.