Christmas Every Week: Christmas Morning
Arnold Kellett’s poem tells of both the joy and anguish of Christmas morn.
To purchase a copy of Arnold’s much-loved book Kellett’s Christmas please click on http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kellets-Christmas-Arnold-Kellett/dp/1858521157/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231273574&sr=1-4
Christmas morning! Sheer delight!
Father Christmas in the night
Lavished toys, and books, and sweets,
All the long-awaited treats!
Soon there'll be luxurious meals,
Bells will sound their rapturous peals,
Children sing the Saviour's birth,
Love, and joy, and peace on earth!
Christmas morning! Sheer distress!
Aching, hungry hopelessness:
In the night the fist of war
Smashed down every hovel-door,
Blazed its gifts of death and blood
Across the rubble and the mud;
Hark! the herald bombs declare
Hate, and woe, and deep despair!
No joy for me this Christmastide,
While children die, slow-crucified;
Ignorance alone is bliss
And yet, I shall remember this:
Jesus came, the one true Way,
And on this glad and generous Day
There's hope the world may learn to prize
The light in Christmas-morning eyes.
