First pupil: Christmas, merry Christmas! Is it really come again? With its memories and greetings, With its joys and with its pain There’s a minor in the carol, And a shadow in the light, And a spray of cypress twining With the holly wreath tonight. And the hush is never broken By laughter, light and low, As we listen in the starlight To the “bells across the snow.” Second pupil: Christmas, merry Christmas! ‘Tis not so very long Since other voices blended With the carol and the song! If we could but hear them singing As they are singing now, If we could but see the radiance Of the crown on each dear brow; There would be no sigh to smother, No hidden tear to flow, As we listen in the starlight To the “bells across the snow.” Third pupil: O Christmas, merry Christmas! This never more can be; We cannot bring again the days Of our unshadowed glee. But Christmas, happy Christmas, Sweet herald of good will, With holy songs of glory, Brings holy gladness still. For peace and hope may brighten, And patient love may glow, As we listen in the starlight To the “bells across the snow.” —F.R. Havergal Lily
