Poems (Curwen)/Yuletide

by Annie Isabel Curwen

Yuletide.

O happy, blessed season,
 O time of joy and mirth,
When all feuds cease, and gentle peace
 And goodwill reign on earth.

Sweet season of re union,
 When the long absent come,
On winged feet again to greet
 The dear old folk at home.

When children and their children throng
 Around the grey-haired sire;
While the holly gleams in the dancing beams
 Of the ruddy, glowing fire.

O merry, joyous Yuletide,
 We welcome thee again,
Although our gladness is tinged with sadness,
 Like a song with a sad refrain.

For as we twine the holly wreaths,
 And hang the mistletoe,
Memory awakes, and backward takes
 Our thoughts to long ago;

And as we listen to the bells
 And greetings kind and gay,
Our fond hearts yearn for the return
 Of dear ones far away.

Some sundered by the great wide sea,
 Some singing 'mid the band
Of shining ones, in sweetest tones
 Songs of the Better Land.

O season of blest influence,
 When from His heaven above,
The Christ imparts to coldest hearts
 The warmth of Christian love.

Dear season of rejoicing,
 Sweet happy Chrismastide,
May the peace it brings on angels' wings
 For aye with us abide.