Christmas Sunshine | Page 3

is here;?Winds whistle shrill,?Icy and chill,?Little care we;?Little we fear?Weather without,?Sheltered about?The mahogany tree.
Once on the boughs?Birds of rare plume?Sang in its bloom;?Night-birds are we;?Here we carouse,?Singing, like them,?Perched round the stem?Of the jolly old tree.
Here let us sport,?Boys, as we sit;?Laughter and wit?Flashing so free.?Life is but short--?When we are gone,?Let them sing on,?Round the old tree.
[Illustration]
Evenings we knew,?Happy as this;?Faces we miss,?Pleasant to see.?Kind hearts and true,?Gentle and just,?Peace to your dust?We sing round the tree.
Care, like a dun,?Lurks at the gate:?Let the dog wait;?Happy we'll be!?Drink, every one;?Pile up the coals,?Fill the red bowls,?Round the old tree!
[Illustration]
Drain we the cup,--?Friend, art afraid??Spirits are laid?In the Red Sea.?Mantle it up;?Empty it yet;?Let us forget,?Round the old tree.
Sorrows, begone!?Life and its ills,?Duns and their bills,?Bid me to flee.?Come with the dawn,?Blue-devil sprite,?Leave us to-night,?Round the old tree.
_W. M. Thackeray._
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Neath Mistletoe, should chance arise,?You may be happy if you're wise!?Though bored you lie with Pantomime?And Christmas fare and Christmas rhyme--?One fine old custom don't despise.
If you're a man of enterprise?You'll find, I venture to surmise,?'Tis pleasant then at Christmas-time?'Neath Mistletoe!
You see they scarcely can disguise?The sparkle of their pretty eyes;?And no one thinks it is a crime,?When goes the merry Christmas chime,?A rare old rite to exercise?'Neath Mistletoe!
_J. Ashby Sterry._
Mist and cloud and darkness?Veil the wintry hour,?But the sun dispels them?With his rising power.
Mist and cloud and darkness?Often dim thy day?But a Christmas glory?Shines upon thy way.
May the Lord of Christmas,?Counsellor and Friend,?Light thy desert pathway?Even to the end.
_F. R. Havergal._
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