Poem "CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS" from posting dated Dec. 22, 1880

CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS


Ring out ye Crystall sphears!

Once bless our human ears

(If ye have power to touch our senses so)

And let your silver chime

Move in melodious time,

And let the Bass of Heav'ns deep Organ blow;

And with your ninefold harmony

Make up full consort to th'Angelike symphony.



For if such holy Song

Enwrap our fancy long,

Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold,

And speckl’d vanity

Will sicken soon and die,

And leprous sin will melt from earthly mould;

And Hell itself will pass away,

And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day.



Yea Truth and Justice then

Will down return to men,

Th'enameld Arras of the Rainbow wearing,

And Mercy set between,

Thron'd in Celestiall sheen,

With radiant feet the tissued clouds down stearing,

And Heav'n as at som festivall,

Will open wide the Gates of her high Palace Hall.

[Verses from: On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, John Milton, December 1629]