Even now, when the fever of youth is gone by, Oh! come then and give me, dear Maiden, thy charms; For life is, alas! on the wing: Our summer, ere long, will be fled; in these arms Let me shield thee, my Fair One, from winter's alarms : Oh! listen to love while 'tis spring. F. R. S. A CHRISTMAS CAROL. I. The Shepherds went their hasty way, And now they check'd their eager II. They told her how a glorious Light, While sweeter than a Mother's song, Blest Angels heralded the Saviour's birth, III. She listen'd to the tale divine, And closer still the Babe she press'd; And while she cry'd, The Babe is mine! The milk rush'd faster to her breast: Joy rose within her, like a summer's morn ; PEACE, PEACE ON EARTH! the Prince of Peace is born! IV. Thou Mother of the Prince of Peace, Oh why should this thy soul elate? Sweet Music's loudest note, the Poet's story, V. And is not WAR a youthful King, Him Earth's majestic Monarchs hail Their Friend, their Playmate! and his bold bright eye Compel's the Maiden's love-confessing sigh. VI. "Tell this in some more courtly scene, "To Maids and Youths in robes of state! "I am a Woman, poor and mean, "And therefore is my soul elate. "War is a ruffian Thief with gore defil'd, VII. "A murderous Thief, by fiends ador'd, "He kills the Sire, and starves the Son; "The Husband kills, and from her board "Steals all his Widow's toil had won ; "Plunders God's world of Beauty, rends away "All safety from the night, all comfort from the day! VIII. "Then wisely is my soul elate, "That strife should vanish, battle cease: "I'm poor, and of a low estate, "The Mother of the Prince of Peace! Joy rises in me, like a summer's morn : PEACE, PEACE ON EARTH! the Prince of Peace is born " F |