Christmas Carol

"Fear not! For unto you is born a Child,
In David's city Christ the Lord is born!"
(And babes today, Life's heritage defiled,
Awake to hunger, fear, and pauper scorn.)

"And this to you shall be a guide and sign,
The Babe shall rest among the cattle dumb."
(More pleasant is the breath of drowsy kine
Than fetid odours of the stagnant slum.)

"All glory unto God, of Heaven the King;
Peace and goodwill to men, adown the years!"
(So sang we in the trenches -- so did sing
Munition magnates and blood profiteers.)

Oh heart perverse of man, to shrine a Lord
And burn him incense of hypocrisy!
Oh minds depraved to bind the Living Word
In mesh of falsehood and of sophistry!

If Christ were born on Water Street today
"Christians" would jeer him in Gethsemane;
And mock while bleeding feet retraced the way
From courts of Gabbatha to Calvary!