A Christmas Prayer (from the trenches)



Not yet for us may Christmas bring
Good-will to men, and peace;
In our dark sky no angels sing,
Not yet the great release
For men, when war shall cease.

So must the guns our carols make,
Our gifts must bullets be,
For us no Christmas bells shall wake;
These ruined homes shall see
No Christmas revelry.

In hardened hearts we fain would greet
The Babe at Christmas born,
But lo, He comes with pierced feet,
Wearing a crown of thorn,-
His side a spear has torn.

For tired eyes are all too dim,
Our hearts too full of pain,
Our ears too deaf to hear the hymn
Which angels sing in vain,
'The Christ is born again.'

O Jesus, pitiful, draw near,
That even we may see
The Little Child who knew not fear;
Thus would we picture Thee
Unmarred by agony.

O'er death and pain triumphant yet
Bid Thou Thy harpers play,
That we may hear them, and forget
Sorrow and all dismay,
And welcome Thee to stay
With us on Christmas Day.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

53 sec read
112

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABB CDCDD EFEFF GHGHX IDIDD JKJKKK
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 890
Words 179
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6

Cyril Winterbotham

Fifth Gloster Gazette editor Lieutenant Cyril Winterbotham. who served in the 1/5th Battalion and edited the gazette until he was killed in action on 27 August 1916 – and Harvey's pre-war friend Ivor Gurney, who served in the 2/5th Battalion. The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994.  more…

All Cyril Winterbotham poems | Cyril Winterbotham Books

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