There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim, <br />And never before or again, <br />When the nights are strong with a darkness long, <br />And the dark is alive with rain. <br /> <br />Never we know but in sleet and in snow, <br />The place where the great fires are, <br />That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth <br />And the heart of the earth a star. <br /> <br />And at night we win to the ancient inn <br />Where the child in the frost is furled, <br />We follow the feet where all souls meet <br />At the inn at the end of the world. <br /> <br />The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red, <br />For the flame of the sun is flown, <br />The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold, <br />And a Child comes forth alone.<br /><br />Gilbert Keith Chesterton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-child-of-the-snows/
