Sibylline Leaves (Coleridge)/A Christmas Carol

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

For works with similar titles, see Christmas Carol.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

 

I.

The Shepherds went their hasty way,

And found the lowly stable-shed
Where the Virgin-Mother lay:
And now they check'd their eager tread,
For to the Babe, that at her bosom clung,
A Mother's song the Virgin-Mother sung.

II.

They told her how a glorious light,

Streaming from a heavenly throng,
Arround them shone, suspending night!
While sweeter than a Mother's song,
Blest Angels heralded the Saviour's birth,
Glory to God on high! and Peace on Earth.

III.

She listen'd to the tale divine,

And closer still the Babe she press'd;
And while she cried, the Babe is mine!
The milk rush'd faster to her breast:

Joy rose within her, like a summer's morn;
Peace, Peace on Earth! the Prince of Peace is born.

IV.

Thou Mother of the Prince of Peace,

Poor, simple, and of low estate!
That Strife should vanish. Battle cease,
O why should this thy soul elate?
Sweet Music's loudest note, the Poet's story,
Did'st thou ne'er love to hear of Fame and Glory?

V.

And is not War a youthful King,

A stately Hero clad in mail?
Beneath his footsteps laurels spring;
Him Earth's majestic monarch's hail
Their Friend, their Playmate! and his bold bright eye
Compels the maiden's love-confessing sigh.

VI.

"Tell this in some more courtly scene,

To maids and youths in robes of state!
I am a woman poor and mean,
And therefore is my Soul elate.
War is a ruffian, all with guilt defil'd,
That from the aged Father tears his Child!"

VII.

"A murderous fiend, by fiends ador'd,

He kills the Sire and starves the Son;
The Husband kills, and from lier board
Steals all his Widow's toil had won;
Plunders God's world of beauty; rends away
All safety from the Night, all comfort from the Day."

VIII.

"Then wisely is my soul elate,

That Strife should vanish. Battle cease:
I'm poor and of a low estate,
The Mother of the Prince of Peace.
Joy rises in me, like a summer's morn:
Peace, Peace on Earth, the Prince of Peace is born."