HOW can I keep my Christmas feast <br /> In its due festive show, <br />Reft of the sight of the High Priest <br /> From whom its glories flow? <br /> <br />I hear the tuneful bells around, <br /> The blessèd towers I see; <br />A stranger on a foreign ground, <br /> They peal a fast for me. <br /> <br />O Britons! now so brave and high, <br /> How will ye weep the day <br />When Christ in judgment passes by, <br /> And calls the Bride away! <br /> <br />Your Christmas then will lose its mirth, <br /> Your Easter lose its bloom: <br />Abroad, a scene of strife and dearth; <br /> Within, a cheerless home!<br /><br />John Henry Newman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/christmas-without-christ/
