Christmas Poems

[HisChildForever]

Hi all, I'm looking for a specific type of Christmas poem. One that focuses on the manger. Or one with subtle religious themes. I've been doing Google searches but haven't found success. Any suggestions, or site suggestions? Thanks!

[Charbel]

I got this on a card sent from the Terre Haute Carmel:

Heavenly Father, You gave us your only begotten Son as the caress of your mercy on a sinful world. Born into a human family, He was laid in the manger of our poverty, a homeless Infant on a winter's night.

Make us ready to comfort and gather Your people into the embrace of Your Fatherly compassion. Help us to be willing instruments of Your love, bearing Your tenderness to the hearts of all who long for solace and salvation.

We bring into the circle of Your divine care to dear ones, those who are lost in need of Your saving help in distress of body or soul. Summon all the hearts of Your children to the cradle of Your beloved Son, that they may rejoice in the mercy of Jesus, our brother and our lasting peace.

Maybe not what you're looking for, but it was worth a try

Edited December 16, 2015 by Charbel

[NadaTeTurbe]

THis little Babe : 

This little babe just three days old,
Is come to rival Satan's hold
All hell doth at his presence quake,
though he himself for cold do shake;
For in this weak unarmored wise
the gates of hell he will surprise.

With tears he fights and wins the field,
his naked breast stands for a shield.
His battering shot are babish cries,
his arrows looks of weeping eyes.
His martial ensigns Cold and Need,
and feeble flesh his warrior's steed.

His camp is pitched in a stall,
his bulwark but a broken wall;
The crib his trench, haystalks his stakes,

image: http://static.urx.io/units/web/urx-unit-loader.gif

of shepherds he his muster makes.
And thus as sure his foe to wound,
the angels' trumps alarum sound

My soul with Christ
join thou in fight;
stick to the tents
that he hath pight.
Within his crib
is surest ward;
this little Babe
will by thy guard.

If thou wilt foil thy
foes with joy, then
flit not from this
heavenly boy!
 

[beatitude]

I love this one by John Betjeman, simply titled 'Christmas'.

[Nihil Obstat]

Jesus, Redeemer of the world, begotten ere the dawn of light, wast of the Father's glory born, immense in glory as in might,

Thou art the Father's splendid light, Thou art th'eternal hope of all throughout the world to Thee we pray, O, hear Thy servants as they call.

Remember, O creator Lord! that from the Virgin's sacred womb Thou dist come forth, and of her flesh Thou didst our mortal form assume.

This day, recurring, year by year, bears witness true that all alone to save the world Thou camest forth, proceeding from the Father's throne.

This day, the stars, the earth, and sea, and all creation welcome sing. This day which brought our liberty, When came our Lord, and Saviour, King.

And we, too, Lord, who have been washed In Thine own font of Blood divine, offer the tribute of our praise on this blest natal day of Thine.

O Jesu, of the Virgin born, unceasing glory be to Thee; and to the Father infinite, and Holy Ghost eternally.

Amen.

 

Hymn from First Vespers on the day of the Nativity of Our Lord.
Edit: Sorry, just skimmed the first post. Thought this was a thread to share our favourite Christmas poems. My bad.  

Edited December 16, 2015 by Nihil Obstat

[HisChildForever]

Nice selections, thanks everyone

[DominicanHeart]

19 hours ago, NadaTeTurbe said:

THis little Babe : 

This little babe just three days old,
Is come to rival Satan's hold
All hell doth at his presence quake,
though he himself for cold do shake;
For in this weak unarmored wise
the gates of hell he will surprise.

With tears he fights and wins the field,
his naked breast stands for a shield.
His battering shot are babish cries,
his arrows looks of weeping eyes.
His martial ensigns Cold and Need,
and feeble flesh his warrior's steed.

His camp is pitched in a stall,
his bulwark but a broken wall;
The crib his trench, haystalks his stakes,

image: http://static.urx.io/units/web/urx-unit-loader.gif

of shepherds he his muster makes.
And thus as sure his foe to wound,
the angels' trumps alarum sound

My soul with Christ
join thou in fight;
stick to the tents
that he hath pight.
Within his crib
is surest ward;
this little Babe
will by thy guard.

If thou wilt foil thy
foes with joy, then
flit not from this
heavenly boy!
 

High School flashbacks to the extreme. You have no idea what it's like to sing this song.

[Era Might]

TS Eliot - "The Journey of the Magi"

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kiking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

[Pia Jesu]

Thomas Merton..."A Christmas Card"

When the white stars talk together like sisters    

     And when the winter hills                                                                                                                                                                          

Raise their grand semblance in the freezing night,

     Somehow one window

Bleeds like the brown eye of an open force.

                  Hills, stars

White stars that stand above the eastern stable,

     Look down and offer Him,

The dim adoring light of your belief.

Whose small Heart bleeds with infinite fire.

     Shall not this Child

(When we hear the bells of His Amazing Voice)

     Conquer the winter of our hateful century?

And when His Lady Mother leans upon the crib,

     Lo, with what rapiers

Those two loves fence and flame their brilliancy!

     Here in the straw be planned the fires

     That melt all our sufferings:

     He is our Lamb, our holocaust!

And one by one the shepherds, with their snowy feet,

Stamp and shake out their hats upon the stable dust,

And one by one kneel down to look upon their Life.                                                                                                                                                                        

 

[NadaTeTurbe]

17 hours ago, DominicanHeart said:

High School flashbacks to the extreme. You have no idea what it's like to sing this song.

Oooh, I know, I know. I sang it last year :D