Advent to Candlemas (Vol. 5)

The Child and The Beggar

A white carpet for Winter,
And a crackling of frost,
A Christmas card picture
Whose beauty is lost
On the man in the doorway
Who shivers and prays
For a change in the weather,
The sun's pallid rays.

Wind cuts every corner
To savage the poor
Through cracks in the shutters
And under the door:
The new-born child shivers
And cries with the cold,
Even if he survives
He will never grow old.

The child and the beggar
Live under one star
Which illumines creation
Wherever we are:
Give warmth to the beggar
In the infant child's name:
Praise God in your kindness,
In thanks that he came.