A MEDITATION FOR ALL. <br /> <br />SO, Christmas is here again!-- <br />While the house sleeps, quiet as death, <br />'Neath the midnight moon comes the Waits' shrill tune, <br />And we listen and hold our breath. <br /> <br />The Christmas that never was-- <br />On this foggy November air, <br />With clear pale gleam, like the ghost of a dream, <br />It is painted everywhere. <br /> <br />The Christmas that might have been-- <br />It is borne in the far-off sound, <br />Down the empty street, with the tread of feet <br />That lie silent underground. <br /> <br />The Christmas that yet may be-- <br />Like the Bethlehem star, leads kind: <br />Yet our life slips past, hour by hour, fast, fast, <br />Few before--and many behind. <br /> <br />The Christmas we have and hold, <br />With a tremulous tender strain, <br />Half joy, half fears--Be the psalm of the years, <br />'Grief passes, blessings remain!' <br /> <br />The Christmas that sure will come, <br />Let us think of, at fireside fair;-- <br />When church bells sound o'er one small green mound, <br />Which the neighbors pass to prayer. <br /> <br />The Christmas that God will give,-- <br />Long after all these are o'er, <br />When is day nor night, for the LAMB is our Light, <br />And we live forevermore.<br /><br />Dinah Maria Mulock Craik<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-first-waits/
