Christmas Carol

Words: James S. Park

Source: Christmas: Its Origin, Celebration and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse - Robert Haven Schauffler (1907)

So crowded was the little town
    On the first Christmas day,
Tired Mary Mother laid her down
    To rest upon the hay.
(Ah, would my door might have been thrown
    Wide open on her way!)

But when the Holy Babe was born
    In the deep hush of night,
It seemed as if a Sabbath morn
    Had come with sacred light.
Child Jesus made the place forlorn
    With his own beauty bright.

The manger rough was all his rest;
    The cattle, having fed,
Stood silent by, or closer pressed,
    And gravely wonderèd.
(Ah, Lord, if only that my breast
    Had cradled Thee instead!)

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