The Greatest Christmas Poems & Carols in One Volume (Illustrated). Редьярд Джозеф Киплинг

      But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:

      So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,

      And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.

      The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;

      The good red fires were burning bright in every 'long-shore home;

      The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;

      And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.

      The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;

      For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)

      This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn,

      And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born.

      O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,

      My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;

      And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,

      Go dancing round the china plates that stand upon the shelves.

      And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,

      Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;

      And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,

      To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.

      They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.

      'All hands to loose top gallant sails,' I heard the captain call.

      'By the Lord, she'll never stand it,' our first mate, Jackson, cried.

      . . . 'It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson,' he replied.

      She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,

      And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.

      As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,

      'We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.

      And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,

      As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;

      But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,

      Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.

       Angels from the Realms of Glory

      (James Montgomery)

       Table of Contents

      Angels, from the realms of glory,

      Wing your flight o'er all the earth;

      Ye who sang creation's story,

      Now proclaim Messiah's birth:

      Come and worship, come and worship

      Worship Christ, the newborn King.

      Shepherds, in the fields abiding,

      Watching o'er your flocks by night,

      God with man is now residing,

      Yonder shines the infant light:

      Come and worship, come and worship

      Worship Christ, the newborn King.

      Sages, leave your contemplations,

      Brighter visions beam afar;

      Seek the great Desire of nations,

      Ye have seen his natal star:

      Come and worship, come and worship

      Worship Christ, the newborn King.

      Sinners, wrung with true repentance,

      Doomed for guilt to endless pains,

      Justice now revokes the sentence,

      Mercy calls you—break your chains:

      Come and worship, come and worship

      Worship Christ, the newborn King.

      Though an infant now we view him,

      He shall fill his Father's throne,

      Gather all the nations to him;

      Every knee shall then bow down:

      Come and worship, come and worship

      Worship Christ, the newborn King.

      All creation, join in praising

      God the Father, Spirit, Son,

      Evermore your voices raising,

      To th'eternal Three in One:

      Come and worship, come and worship

      Worship Christ, the newborn King