Friday, December 01, 2006

A Child of the Snows


There should be winter in the air at this time, but it isn't. It still feels like autumn; it's rain in the air, it's almost always dark, and the wind is howling at night. So since I was once A Child of the Snows I find comfort in Chesterton.


There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,

And never before or again,
When the nights are strong with a darkness long,
And the dark is alive with rain.

Never we know but in sleet and in snow,

The place where the great fires are,
That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth
And the heart of the earth a star.

And at night we win to the ancient inn

Where the child in the frost is furled,
We follow the feet where all souls meet
At the inn at the end of the world.

The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,

For the flame of the sun is flown,
The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold,
And a Child comes forth alone.

G.K. Chesterton

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