A Child of the Snows

The images of Christmas fly fast and furious past us like the hyperspace scene from Starwars. Words, on the other hand, slow us down and make us think. I did myself a favor and downloaded Dylan Thomas's "A Child's Christmas in Wales" on Mp3 to listen to on the ride to South Florida on Christmas Eve. Though recorded in 1952 (a year before his death), Thomas's voice is a resonant pleasure.

But poems make the best speed bumps. Poems make you read them and re-read them till you see the poet's meaning. Though my favorite poem by G.K. Chesterton is "The House of Christmas", here's another treat to chew on as you seek to savor the richness of the holiday (it makes me long to go to the inn at the end of the world!):

A Child of the Snows by G. K. Chesterton

There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,
And never before or again,
When the nights are strong with a darkness long,
And the dark is alive with rain.

Never we know but in sleet and in snow,
The place where the great fires are,
That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth
And the heart of the earth a star.

And at night we win to the ancient inn
Where the child in the frost is furled,
We follow the feet where all souls meet
At the inn at the end of the world.

The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,
For the flame of the sun is flown,
The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold,
And a Child comes forth alone.

The well wisher of your soul's happiness,

Pastor Tom