Classic Poem

Do you know the marvel of Christmas time,
The miracle meaning of song and chime,
Of hearty love and huge good will,
Of feasts that gladden and gifts that spill?
Do you know what happens to homes and men
When Christmas love is abroad again?
Could you look beneath, you would see the rush
Of a flood as real as a river's gush;
A torrent wonderful, deep and wide,
That sweeps the world in its magic tide.

Oh, it isn't the gift, and it isn't the feast;
Of all the miracles, these are least.
It's the good that flows from the hearts of men
When Christmas love is abroad again.
For wishes are real, and love is a force,
And the tide, which ages ago had source
In the heart of a babe, has grown and gained
Till all humanity, single-veined,
Answers the call of the mighty surge,
Swings to the great resistless urge.

Oh, vain is the boast of the hardened one
Who scouts what the centuries have done.
Be he ever so mean, be he ever so cold,
Though his heart be flint and his claim be bold,
His veins will tingle, his pulses thrill,
To the sound of " Peace on earth, good will! "
Why, even the man who grips his purse
With a stingy mouth and a cruel curse
Must yield to the flood and be borne away
To join in the glory of Christmas Day.

Have you guessed the secret of Christmas night,
When the whole world loves with all its might,
When the whole world gives with a lavish hand
And joy is awake throughout the land?
Do you know the marvel that happens then
In the glow that goes from the hearts of men?
Have you looked beneath, have you seen the fire
That leaps from the soul of a great desire —
A warmth as real as the heat that springs
From the hearth where the great log laughs and sings?

Oh, it isn't the holly, it isn't the snow,
It isn't the tree or the firelight glow;
It's the flame that goes from the hearts of men
When Christmas love is abroad again.
'Tis the laughter of children, quivering high
In a shower of radiance to the sky
For wishes are real, and love is a force,
And the torch which ages ago had source
In the star that lighted the wise men's way
Burns with a magical fire to-day.

So great the shining, so pure the blaze,
It reachces beyond, through the stellar ways,
Till — listen! A wind voice told it me —
Our globe that swims in ethereal sea
Glows like a lamp whose flame is love
To the other worlds that swing above;
And this the signal that makes them know
We have hearths and homes and cheer below
Why, gods and angels walk by the light
That streams from the earth on Christmas night!