![\"Christmas](\"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Christmas-Comes-Again.jpg\")
<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nby Elizabeth Stoddard<\/p>\n
\nLet me be merry now, ‘t is time;
\nThe season is at hand
\nFor Christmas rhyme and Christmas chime,
\nClose up, and form the band.<\/p>\n
The winter fires still burn as bright,
\nThe lamp-light is as clear,
\nAnd since the dead are out of sight,
\nWhat hinders Christmas cheer?<\/p>\n
Why think or speak of that abyss
\nIn which lies all my Past?
\nHigh festival I need not miss,
\nWhile song and jest shall last.<\/p>\n
We’ll clink and drink on Christmas Eve,
\nOur ghosts can feel no wrong;
\nThey revelled ere they took their leave\u2014
\nHearken, my Soldier’s Song:<\/p>\n
“The morning air doth coldly pass,
\nComrades, to the saddle spring:
\nThe night more bitter cold will bring
\nEre dying\u2014ere dying.
\nSweetheart, come, the parting glass;
\nGlass and sabre, clash, clash, clash,
\nEre dying\u2014ere dying.
\nStirrup-cup and stirrup-kiss\u2014
\nDo you hope the foe we’ll miss,
\nSweetheart, for this loving kiss,
\nEre dying\u2014ere dying?”<\/p>\n
The feasts and revels of the year
\nDo ghosts remember long?
\nEven in memory come they here?
\nListen, my Sailor’s Song:<\/p>\n
“O my hearties, yo heave ho!
\nAnchor’s up in Jolly Bay\u2014
\nHey!
\nPipes and swipes, hob and nob\u2014
\nHey!
\nMermaid Bess and Dolphin Meg,
\nPaddle over Jolly Bay\u2014
\nHey!
\nTars, haul in for Christmas Day,
\nFor round the ‘varsal deep we go;
\nNever church, never bell,
\nFor to tell
\nOf Christmas Day.
\nYo heave ho, my hearties O!
\nHaul in, mates, here we lay\u2014
\nHey!”<\/p>\n
His sword is rusting in its sheath,
\nHis flag furled on the wall;
\nWe’ll twine them with a holly-wreath,
\nWith green leaves cover all.<\/p>\n
So clink and drink when falls the eve;
\nBut, comrades, hide from me
\nTheir graves\u2014I would not see them heave
\nBeside me, like the sea.<\/p>\n
Let not my brothers come again,
\nAs men dead in their prime;
\nThen hold my hands, forget my pain,
\nAnd strike the Christmas chime.<\/p>\n
###<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Drew Stoddard (1823 \u2013 1902) was a poet and novelist who brought fresh perspective to New England life through her Gothic-inspired writings. Born into privilege as a member of Maine\u2019s wealthy Collins family, Stoddard had creative ambitions from a young age. After marrying famed poet Richard Henry Stoddard, she began channeling her skills into both poetry and prose.<\/p>\n
Stoddard published her first poem in 1852, quickly earning acclaim for her lyrical verses meditating on love, death, morality and the human condition. Her work appeared in prominent literary magazines for decades, targeting discerning intellectual readers rather than the masses. Stoddard\u2019s distinct poetry was finally compiled into the 1895 collection Poems, featuring favored pieces like \u201cA Presence,\u201d \u201cOctober,\u201d and \u201cThree Loves.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to poetry, Stoddard produced three insightful novels between 1862 and 1867. Her debut The Morgesons (1862) painted a stark portrait of a unraveling New England family weakened by societal pressures and inner turmoil. Stoddard expanded her scope with Two Men (1865) and Temple House (1867), probing religion, morality and community identity across Massachusetts, Maine and the isolated Temple House island monastery. More mature editions released in 1888 earned Stoddard\u2019s novels, commended for their psychological depth and regional accuracy, greater readership. Stoddard also tapped into her reservations about strict Puritanical principles through the lighthearted children\u2019s tale Lolly Dinks\u2019s Doings (1874), chronicling the adventures of an irrepressibly free-spirited young girl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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