Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HOLLY THORNS, by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HOLLY THORNS, by                    
First Line: Oh, love is the soul of christmas
Last Line: Where christmas is one of tears.
Subject(s): Christmas; Grief; Happiness; Holly; Love; Nativity, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Joy; Delight


Oh, Love is the soul of Christmas,
And Hope is its message sweet,
There is joy in the heart at Christmas,
God speaks in a life complete.
The children of men are singing,
Oh, never such cause for song,
And the light of the Babe is shining
Through eyes of the happy throng.

The log on the hearth is kindled,
And a welcome is writ in fire
For those who were gone a season
And returned to their hearts' desire.
The gleam of symbolic candles,
The weavings of holly leaves,
Are the voicings of the spirit
That ever to Christmas cleaves.

Oh, there's joy, yes joy, in Christmas,
But even the holly pricks,
And the melted wax on candles
Like tears falls from burning wicks.
There are hearths where the log is dampened,
There are homes where each pulsing breath
Reminds of the soul whose Christmas
Is spent in the arms of Death.

There are voiceless prayers for courage
To bear coming Yuletide through,
There are yearning hopes for something
To prove of the new life true.
There are fathers and mothers and children
That ask, and the echoes are still
Save for ringing of bells and music
That make for another's good will.

There's a void in the heart of the poet,
There's a break in the perfect ring,
There's a minor note in his music,
His fires are smouldering.
There are tears when there would be laughter,
There are poems of joy unsaid,
For the song that was his last Christmas
Is now but a dirge for the dead.

Yes, Love is the soul of Christmas,
And Hope is its message sweet,
There is joy and there's pain at Christmas
And ever the two shall meet.
Though Love is o'er shadowed by sorrow,
Yet Hope is still seen through fears,
In the homes of the broken-hearted
Where Christmas is one of tears.





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