 | Poems at Home and Abroad |  |
56
Christmas
There was no room when first the Christ-child came
There is no room to-day in halls of state
Where, in the wrangling clamour of debate,
Professing love, men slay love in Love's name;
No room where commerce plies the gambler's game,
Nor where the gilded comfort of the great
Mocks its own sadness, nor where sophists prate
And the new learning puts the Cross to shame.
There is no room to-day in halls of state
Where, in the wrangling clamour of debate,
Professing love, men slay love in Love's name;
No room where commerce plies the gambler's game,
Nor where the gilded comfort of the great
Mocks its own sadness, nor where sophists prate
And the new learning puts the Cross to shame.
But in the simple hearts of labouring men,
Untouched by pride, by this world unbeguiled,
Who, knowing little, do that little well,
Still is there room, as once on Bethlehem's fell
The watch who kept the wolf-pack from the pen
Gave wondering welcome to the Christmas Child.
Untouched by pride, by this world unbeguiled,
Who, knowing little, do that little well,
Still is there room, as once on Bethlehem's fell
The watch who kept the wolf-pack from the pen
Gave wondering welcome to the Christmas Child.
| Poems at Home and Abroad | |