Hallie Ephron: Christmas and poetry go together. When I was growing up, one of my mother's tradtions was reciting poetry after dinner as we lingered at the table. A writer and an English major, she knew so many by heart and over time I learned them too.
Here are some bits from favorite Christmas poems to enjoy on Christmas eve. I know you'll recognize most of them.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
"’Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement C. Moore
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die…
“Ring Out, Wild Bells” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (from In Memoriam)
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The word repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
"Christmas Bells" – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Our snow was not only shaken from white wash buckets down the sky, it came shawling out of the ground and swam and drifted out of the arms and hands and bodies of the trees; snow grew overnight on the roofs of the houses like a pure and grandfather moss, minutely -ivied the walls and settled on the postman, opening the gate, like a dumb, numb thunder-storm of white, torn Christmas cards.
A Chid’s Christmas in Wales – Dylan Thomas (Okay, technically not a poem but worth committing to memory)
And here's Ogden Nash's wonderful "The Boy Show Laughed at Santa Claus" - read by Jean Shepherd
Are there poems that are part of your holiday traditions? Please, share them.
