Edwardsville Spectator

POETRY.

FOR THE SPECTATOR.

THE CHRISTMAS GIFT,
Addressed to a Lady, in answer to the usual salutation— “I wish you a merry Christmas,”

Promptly, with smiling face, you send
“A merry Christmas” to your friend.

Thank you, dear Fanny, from my heart:
Your friendly smiles a joy impart
Sweet, refreshing, balmy rest,
To my poor, lonely, sorrowing breast.

But yet, methinks unseemly mirth
Il celebrates a Saviour's birth!
How do the sports of field or hall
Our thoughts to our Redeemer call?
How do we show our thankful joys
By splendid mummery and toys?

O! ill befits it, this event
To celebrate in merriment!

“But sure,” some say, “the Saviour's birth
Brought joy and peace upon the earth,
Saved from their sins a guilty race,
And pour'd supply of richest grace:
Shall not the subjects of His love
Rejoice while Time and Nature move?

Forbid, that we should e'er forget
This glorious day with joy to greet!”

Well, be it so—let every voice
And heart in Christendom rejoice:
But let us hear how he ordains
We pour our pious, thankful strains—
Is it by mingling with a crowd
Of triflers—thoughtless, vain, and proud
By whirling through the mazy dance,
Or by the foaming sleigh-horse prance?

Is it by light and airy songs
Of jocund hearts and licensed tongues?
Shall we, in fine, by Satan's arts,
Banish religion from our hearts,
And say we give an offering meet
Of thanks for benefits so great?-

“Is any merry,” saith Saint James,
“Let him express his joy in psalms.”

Then let us lift our souls in praise,
To Him our noblest anthems raise,
Who condescended to be born:
O! let us hail the glorious morn
With solemn joy and awful mirth,
And thus commemorate His birth!

And O! my interesting friend,
Our lives and powers let us spend
In glad thanksgivings to His name
Who was a babe in Bethlehem:
Our ardent prayers let us lift

OR THAT GREAT GLORIOUS CHRISTMAS GIFT.

L.

December 25, 1819.