Christmas Every Week: Ode On The Nativity
Writing in the style of Milton, Arnold Kellett deplores the wealth that will not feel the pain of hungry millions.
Hail, festival supreme,
The pantomimic scheme
Of ancient winter-solstice pagan rites,
The Saturnalian kiss,
The Bacchanalian bliss
Of drowsy days and bright, carousing nights!
And can this brash and earth-bound thing
Proclaim old Milton's infant God and heavenly King?
The Jesus pot-pourri,
Messiah's spending-spree -
Thou, Milton, shouldst be living at this hour!
The self-indulgent zeal,
The wealth that will not feel
The pain of hungry millions who'd devour
Our very Christmas scraps and crumbs,
While telly kindly screens from sight their alien slums.
And yet we shall transcend
This pagan-Christian blend,
Away with bogus Yule-tide bonhomie!
And let us taste afresh
The truth of God made flesh,
And celebrate the Christ who sets us free;
Though we are Puritans no more,
With Milton let us open wide the stable door.
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To order a copy of Arnold’s book Kellett’s Christmas please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kellets-Christmas-Arnold-Kellett/dp/1858521157/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231273574&sr=1-4
