And is it that the Advent air no longer loudly rings <br />With any bell of recognition for the King of Kings? <br />When frazzled Christmas shoppers push in crowd-crushed Oxford Street <br />Have they a sentimental inkling they might ever meet <br />The one whose birth they cheaply celebrate with bargain gifts? <br />Or do they still deny him thrice, as, crammed into dingy lifts, <br />They take his name in vain when fellow customers have trod <br />On them? Is this the only time they breathe the name of God? <br />And, when they hum along to cheery carols from the band <br />Of the Salvation Army Mission, do they understand <br />That, though this season’s filled with frolic and festivity, <br />It stemmed from celebrations of that first nativity? <br />And are there still some souls who stop and think awhile and pause <br />And then donate their hard-earned savings to a worthy cause <br />And give, instead of shiny shop-bought offerings, to their kin <br />Those articles from charities that save the poor man’s skin? <br />Do massed consumers, seeking inspiration from above <br />For presents, also hear the message of the need for love <br />For humankind? Can they discover that, in the great plan <br />It is only our self-sacrifice that makes us truly man? <br />And do some spot, as others dash for one last-minute shop, <br />A bedraggled figure in a doorway that may make them stop <br />And spare a thought for down-and-outs, less fortunate than they <br />And glimpse the real reason Christ was born on Christmas Day? <br />If so, the Advent bells may ring again, no longer dumb, <br />When peace on earth, goodwill to all, for evermore has come.<br /><br />C Richard Miles<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/advent-bells/
