The Feast Was Prepared
A Christmas Carol

by Isa Craig-Knox  (1831-1903)

Source: Isa Craig-Knox (1831-1903), Poems by Isa (Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1856), pp. 32.

THE CHRISTMAS CAROL.

The feast was prepared, and the friends were assembled,
    All friends, there was only one stranger-guest there;
'Mid branches and holly the lights flash'd and trembled;
    And all there were happy, and many were fair.

The children stole forth, while the feast they were bringing,
    Then softly returning, a fair minstrel band
At the door of the chamber with sweet voices singing,
    A carol for Christmas, they stood hand in hand:—

"Ye who with gladness your Christmas are keeping,
    Think of the woes which the wretched endure;
Many with cold and with hunger are weeping—
    Christians to-day should remember the poor.

"With them in the world cold and hunger and weeping—
    To-day came the Saviour for you to endure—
With them to-day Christ his Christmas is keeping;
    You give unto Him when you give to the poor."

The children then held forth their hands, and with pleasure
    Their parents and friends gave them gifts at the door,
The stranger, too, begged he might swell the rich treasure,
    And the sweet singers added their own little store.

Then they join'd in the feast, and in song, and in laughter,
    Their joy before God came up earnest and pure,
Because for His sake who shall judge us hereafter;
    There was feasting that night in some homes of the poor.

Editor's Note.

Other works by Isa Craig-Knox on this site include:

• On This Blessed Eve We Sing

• The Christmas Child

• The Incarnation - Not In Cloud And Not In Thunder

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