 | Brother Fabian's Manuscript |  |
262
A CHRISTMAS DREAM.
I dreamed a dream, towards Christmas Eve,
Of a people whose God was Make-believe,
And a time nigh come to do more than grieve:
Of a people whose God was Make-believe,
And a time nigh come to do more than grieve:
A dream of an old Faith shrunk to a Guess,
And a Christian Church, and Senate, and Press,
Which believed they believed in it more or less.
And a Christian Church, and Senate, and Press,
Which believed they believed in it more or less.
With dazed red eyes, and rime on his beard,
And pinched blue fingers, and toes frost-seared,
Old Father Christmas sat waiting his weird.
And pinched blue fingers, and toes frost-seared,
Old Father Christmas sat waiting his weird.
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Fire was none, and the frozen breath
Fringed the lips with ice o'er his chattering teeth,
As he shook on the Yule log and prayed for Death!
Fringed the lips with ice o'er his chattering teeth,
As he shook on the Yule log and prayed for Death!
And men said:“Christmas is old and cold,
“Let us make him merry and blithe and bold!
“Let us paint him a fire, and cheer him with gold!”
“Let us make him merry and blithe and bold!
“Let us paint him a fire, and cheer him with gold!”
And the Painter came, and the Carpenter,
And the 'Prentice and Scene-shifter, all astir
With canvas and pasteboard and laths of fir.
And the 'Prentice and Scene-shifter, all astir
With canvas and pasteboard and laths of fir.
And they painted a fire, and hung the scene
With a broidered arras of gold and green,
And holly festoons on the walls between.
With a broidered arras of gold and green,
And holly festoons on the walls between.
And over the dying King below
Swung a pinnacled canopy all aglow
With crockets of golden mistletoe.
Swung a pinnacled canopy all aglow
With crockets of golden mistletoe.
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And within there dangled all to see
The three gilt pills of the Medici,
Marked Lionel, Meyer, and Antony.
The three gilt pills of the Medici,
Marked Lionel, Meyer, and Antony.
And men said:“Christmas is old and cold;
“We have made him merry, and blithe and bold!
“We have painted a fire, and cheered him with gold!”
“We have made him merry, and blithe and bold!
“We have painted a fire, and cheered him with gold!”
And the old King groaned, but he could not speak
For the crust of ice on his palsied cheek;—
But none took heed of a groan so weak.
For the crust of ice on his palsied cheek;—
But none took heed of a groan so weak.
Then under a Hierarch's coronet
There crawled in one with a fisher's net,
And its eye was ablaze with an awful threat.
There crawled in one with a fisher's net,
And its eye was ablaze with an awful threat.
With a snaky hiss in an oily sneer,
And a wild-cat's grin in a saintly leer,
It spoke, as it crawled, for all to hear:
And a wild-cat's grin in a saintly leer,
It spoke, as it crawled, for all to hear:
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“Father,” it said, “thou art old and cold,
“We will make thee merry, and blithe and bold!
“We have wrought for thy slumber a couch of Gold!”
“We will make thee merry, and blithe and bold!
“We have wrought for thy slumber a couch of Gold!”
And a pye-coat shepherd-crew paced near,
With a coffin of gold on a gilded bier,
And a tissue of gold for funeral-gear.
With a coffin of gold on a gilded bier,
And a tissue of gold for funeral-gear.
And they rested each on his golden crook,
And chanted a hymn from a holy book:
But the old King only groaned and shook.
And chanted a hymn from a holy book:
But the old King only groaned and shook.
He groaned and shook, but he could not speak
For the crust of ice on his palsied cheek:
They heeded him not, those herdsmen sleek.
For the crust of ice on his palsied cheek:
They heeded him not, those herdsmen sleek.
But the Hierarch bowed, for a lordlier Chief
Came crowned with lawgiver's strawberry-leaf,
And sceptred with poppy-stalks bound in a sheaf.
Came crowned with lawgiver's strawberry-leaf,
And sceptred with poppy-stalks bound in a sheaf.
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Toothless and bald, he had teeth and hair,
Wizened and wrinkled, his cheek was fair,
For the hare's-foot had hidden the crow's-foot there.
Wizened and wrinkled, his cheek was fair,
For the hare's-foot had hidden the crow's-foot there.
“Father,” he said, “thou art old and cold!
“To make thee merry, and blithe and bold,
“We have brought thee Myrrh in a box of gold!”
“To make thee merry, and blithe and bold,
“We have brought thee Myrrh in a box of gold!”
And a rout of Elders in scarlet and fur,
Hobbled goutily in with cackle and stir,
And laid on the coffin a casket of myrrh.
Hobbled goutily in with cackle and stir,
And laid on the coffin a casket of myrrh.
And they carolled a psalm to him, line by line,
How Wisdom is water, but Knowledge wine,
And Childhood earthy, but Dotage divine.
How Wisdom is water, but Knowledge wine,
And Childhood earthy, but Dotage divine.
And the old King groaned, but he could not speak
For the crust of ice on his palsied cheek:
Had he shrieked, they scarce would have heard his shriek.
For the crust of ice on his palsied cheek:
Had he shrieked, they scarce would have heard his shriek.
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Then a third Chief came whose wand was a scroll:
“'Tis he,” they buzzed, “who hath pawned his soul
“To be rolled in lengths on the printer's roll.”
“'Tis he,” they buzzed, “who hath pawned his soul
“To be rolled in lengths on the printer's roll.”
Halt of a foot, but strong was he:
His gait was a serf's, but his eye was free:—
His crown was a broad phylactery.
His gait was a serf's, but his eye was free:—
His crown was a broad phylactery.
“Father,” he said, “thou art old and cold,—
“We will make thee merry, and blithe and bold,
“With Frankincense in a box of gold!”
“We will make thee merry, and blithe and bold,
“With Frankincense in a box of gold!”
And a rabble of motley, none knew whence,
Laid a chest on the bier with the frankincense,
And a scroll of their names who had paid their pence.
Laid a chest on the bier with the frankincense,
And a scroll of their names who had paid their pence.
And they chanted a carol, some low, some high:
But the burden of all their psalmody
Was “I, I have given, and I, and I!”
But the burden of all their psalmody
Was “I, I have given, and I, and I!”
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And the old King groaned, but he could not speak
For the crust of ice on his palsied cheek;
But they deemed it was only an old man's freak!
For the crust of ice on his palsied cheek;
But they deemed it was only an old man's freak!
And they all strolled forth to their own hearth-side,
And left him alone, for 'twas Christmas-tide:
And the Midnight tolled, and the old King died!
And left him alone, for 'twas Christmas-tide:
And the Midnight tolled, and the old King died!
And behold, or ever the tolling ceased,
Three Kings with their companies most and least
Rode amain toward a Star that sailed from the East.
Three Kings with their companies most and least
Rode amain toward a Star that sailed from the East.
And three from the West, in shepherd array,
Ran East, for an Angel fled that way,
And the wayfarers met where the dead King lay.
Ran East, for an Angel fled that way,
And the wayfarers met where the dead King lay.
“Where is the Child?” they cried, “the Child
“Who is born our King, are we all beguiled?”
And they stared at the corpse, and their eyes waxed wild.
“Who is born our King, are we all beguiled?”
And they stared at the corpse, and their eyes waxed wild.
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There sat he, an iceberg shaped like a King,
In the midst of his theatre garnishing:—
And they said, “Let us bury this frozen thing!”
In the midst of his theatre garnishing:—
And they said, “Let us bury this frozen thing!”
And they lit them a fire, and piled it high
With the canvas and pasteboard and carpentry,
And the frankincense that they found thereby.
With the canvas and pasteboard and carpentry,
And the frankincense that they found thereby.
And they thawed the limbs of that Monarch old,
And spread the myrrh betwixt fold and fold,
As they wrapped him and laid in the coffin of gold.
And spread the myrrh betwixt fold and fold,
As they wrapped him and laid in the coffin of gold.
And lo, as they dirged him a requiem,
There were voices of Angels answering them
With a chant:“He is born in Bethlehem!”
There were voices of Angels answering them
With a chant:“He is born in Bethlehem!”
And the rooftree gaped with a sudden gash,
And a blaze of glory, a blinding flash,
Burst in from the sky with a thunder crash!
And a blaze of glory, a blinding flash,
Burst in from the sky with a thunder crash!
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And I woke:—but I saw how the coffin of gold
Was the manger-cradle of One foretold
Who should right the Wrong and make new the Old.
Was the manger-cradle of One foretold
Who should right the Wrong and make new the Old.
And one cried, “Gather them, all and some,
“For the Christ is reborn in His Christendom!”
And I heard the voice of a Babe cry, “Come!”
“For the Christ is reborn in His Christendom!”
And I heard the voice of a Babe cry, “Come!”
Come, for the Old still breathes in the New!
Come, for the False is lost in the True,
And the Creed may die but the Christ lives through!
Come, for the False is lost in the True,
And the Creed may die but the Christ lives through!
| Brother Fabian's Manuscript | |