Christmas poems

I have just Googled Christmas poems and there are plenty of sites with suggestions. I suspect some of them might be over-Americanised, but you might be able to find something.

first bit of "Ballad of the Breadman" by Charles Causley?

Mary stood in the kitchen
Baking a loaf of bread.
An angel flew in the window
‘We’ve a job for you,’ he said.

‘God in his big gold heaven
Sitting in his big blue chair,
Wanted a mother for his little son.
Suddenly saw you there.’

Mary shook and trembled,
‘It isn’t true what you say.’
‘Don’t say that,’ said the angel.
‘The baby’s on its way.’

Joseph was in the workshop
Planing a piece of wood.
‘The old man’s past it,’ the neighbours said.
‘That girls been up to no good.’

‘And who was that elegant fellow,’
They said. ‘in the shiny gear?’
The things they said about Gabriel
Were hardly fit to hear.

Mary never answered,
Mary never replied.
She kept the information,
Like the baby, safe inside.

It was the election winter.
They went to vote in the town.
When Mary found her time had come
The hotels let her down.

The baby was born in an annexe
Next to the local pub.
At midnight, a delegation
Turned up from the Farmers’ club.

They talked about an explosion
That made a hole on the sky,
Said they’d been sent to the Lamb and Flag
To see God come down from on high.

A few days later a bishop
And a five-star general were seen
With the head of an African country
In a bullet-proof limousine.

‘We’ve come,’ they said ‘with tokens
For the little boy to choose.’
Told the tale about war and peace
In the television news.

After them came the soldiers
With rifle and bombs and gun,
Looking for enemies of the state.
The family had packed up and gone

Just a thought, because I like it!

Out on the endless purple hills, deep in the
clasp of somber night,
The shepherds guarded their weary ones--
guarded their flocks of cloudy white,
That like a snowdrift in silence lay,
Save one little lamb with its fleece of gray.

Out on the hillside all alone, gazing afar with
sleepless eyes,
The little gray lamb prayed soft and low, its
weary face to the starry skies:
"O moon of the heavens so fair, so bright,
Give me--oh, give me--a fleece of white!"

No answer came from the dome of blue, nor
comfort lurked in the cypress-trees;
But faint came a whisper borne along on the
scented wings of the passing breeze:
"Little gray lamb that prays this night,
I cannot give thee a fleece of white."

Then the little gray lamb of the sleepless eyes
prayed to the clouds for a coat of snow,
Asked of the roses, besought the woods; but
each gave answer sad and low:
"Little gray lamb that prays this night,
We cannot give thee a fleece of white."

Like a gem unlocked from a casket dark, like
an ocean pearl from its bed of blue,
Came, softly stealing the clouds between, a
wonderful star which brighter grew
Until it flamed like the sun by day
Over the place where Jesus lay.

Ere hushed were the angels' notes of praise
the joyful shepherds had quickly sped
Past rock and shadow, adown the hill, to kneel
at the Saviour's lowly bed;
While, like the spirits of phantom night,
Followed their flocks--their flocks of white.

And patiently, longingly, out of the night,
apart from the others,--far apart,--
Came limping and sorrowful, all alone, the
little gray lamb of the weary heart,
Murmuring, "I must bide far away:
I am not worthy--my fleece is gray."

And the Christ Child looked upon humbled
pride, at kings bent low on the earthen floor,
But gazed beyond at the saddened heart of the
little gray lamb at the open door;
And he called it up to his manger low and laid
his hand on its wrinkled face,
While the kings drew golden robes aside to
give to the weary one a place.
And the fleece of the little gray lamb was blest:
For, lo! it was whiter than all the rest!

* * * * *

In many cathedrals grand and dim, whose windows
glimmer with pane and lens,
Mid the odor of incense raised in prayer, hallowed
about with last amens,
The infant Saviour is pictured fair, with
kneeling Magi wise and old,
But his baby-hand rests--not on the gifts, the
myrrh, the frankincense, the gold--
But on the head, with a heavenly light,
Of the little gray lamb that was changed to white.

What the Donkey saw

No room in the inn, of course,
And not that much in the stable
What with the shepherds, Magi, Mary,
Joseph, the heavenly host -
Not to mention the baby
Using our manger as a cot.
You couldn’t have squeezed another cherub in
For love or money.

Still, in spite of the overcrowding,
I did my best to make them feel wanted.
I could see the baby and I
Would be going places together.

Verse 1:
When Winter's shadowy fingers first pursue you down the street
And your boots no longer lie about the cold around your feet
Do you spare a thought for Summer whose passage is complete
Whose memories lie in ruins and whose ruins lie in heat

When Winter.... comes howling in.

Verse 2:
When the wind is singing strangely, blowing music through your head
And your rain-splattered windows make you decide to stay in bed
Do you spare a thought for the homeless tramp who wishes he was dead
Or do you pull your bed-clothes higher, dream of Summertime instead,
When Winter.... comes howling in.

Verse 3:
The creeping cold has fingers that caress without permission
And mystic crystal snowdrops only aggravate the condition
Do you spare a thought for the gypsy with no secure position
Who's turned and spurned by village and town and the Magistrate's decision,
When Winter.... comes howling in.

Verse 4:
When the turkey's in the oven and the Christmas presents are bought
And Santa's in his module - he's an American astronaut -
Do you spare a thought for Jesus, who had nothing but his thoughts,
Who got busted - just for talking, and befriending the wrong sorts,
When Winter.... comes howling in.
Intro....
When Winter.... comes howling in.

What about "Twas the first night of Christmas and all round the house"?

Kids would love that.

scroll down

You could finish up with it.

Thomas Hardy's The Oxen? A good tale for the older ones.

every child should hear it

I love that one vampire queen. (the donkey one) "I could see the baby and I
Would be going places together." So clever and so beautiful. And sad.

No matter whether you believe it or not, it's a marvellous story. The whole lot of it. From magical beginning to triumphant end.

I once heard someone read from a "Little House on the Prairie" book about their Christmas and it was charming and very appropriate for children. It might be worth a look for it?

It was from a book called "Christmas at Plum Creek" and is available on Amazon!

Thank you all very much for your wonderful suggestions - I am most grateful.

Phoenix and Vampirequeen - could you please tell me who wrote the poems that you have suggested? Thanks.

Mishap it's the lyrics from a song by Lindisfarne, I have always thought the words rather appropriate for modern times.

The song is called Winter Song, will look for a link.

Here you go!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_dsk7u26A

Mishap is it you that's got the Knights Templar church? Are you having this there?

That well known Christmas poem, 'T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house............'

Have gone all tingly and goose bumpy after reading those,especially liked the Donkey and ariadne's The Breadmanxxlove nellie

Dylan Thomas's "A Child's Christmas In Wales" is a story but very poetic in style. Has anyone heard or read this?

www.bfsmedia.com/MAS/Dylan/Christmas.html

What the donkey saw.....U.A. Fanthorpe

The little grey lamb....Archibald Beresford Sullivan

The Coming of the Magi by TS Elliot
Always bring tears to my eyes. Still in copyright I think, so we should not cut and paster I suspect.

Here is a link to it. I find TS rather inaccessible (i.e. too hard) usually (apart from the Cats) but this is brilliant and not too long.
www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=7070

Lots of good suggestions. I had a quick flick through the odd anthology and found endless reams of sentimental tosh that I wouldn't dream of inflicting on anyone let alone primary school children.