Christmas Poems by Christina Rossetti

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas hath a darkness

     Brighter than the blazing noon,

Christmas hath a chillness

     Warmer than the heat of June,

Christmas hath a beauty

     Lovelier than the world can show:

For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

     Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,

     Birds that sing and bells that ring;

Heaven hath answering music

     For all Angels soon to sing:

Earth, put on your whitest

     Bridal robe of spotless snow:

For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

     Brought for us so low.

~Christina Rossetti~

1893

A Christmas Carol

(Set to music as "In the Bleak Mid-winter)

In the bleak mid-winter

     Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

     Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

     Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter

     Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him

     Nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away

     When He comes to reign:

In the bleak mid-winter

     A stable-place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty

     Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim

     Worship night and day,

A breastful of milk

     And a mangerful of hay;

Enough for Him, whom angels

     Fall down before,

The ox and ass and camel

     Which adore.

Angels and archangels

     May have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim

     Thronged the air;

But only His mother

     In her maiden bliss

Worshipped the Beloved

     With a kiss.

What can I give Him,

     Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd

     I would bring a lamb,

If I were a Wise Man

     I would do my part,--

Yet what can I give Him,

     Give my heart.

~Christina Rossetti~

BIO:  Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) came from a family of talented poets, writers, and painters. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti, emigrated to England as a poet and political exile from Vasto, Abruzzo, Italy. Her mother, Frances Polidori, was the sister of the notorious Lord Byron physician, John William Polidori. Her brother was the renowned poet and painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Christina often posed for her brother's paintings and became a popular poetess in her own right. In popularity, she became the successor of Elizabeth Barrett Browning after the famous poetess died in 1861. Christina published her first collection of poems in 1862, Goblin Market and Other Poems, which remains popular even today. Two of her poems were set to music: A Christmas Carol and Love Came Down at Christmas. She is buried in London's Highgate Cemetery.