As we write our own Christmas cards and letters, we are enriched by Evelyn's thoughts, written in the 1930s. Her message is timeless, universal.
Soft-sweet as a singing bell,
we hear again,
“Oh, peace, be still!”
Not daffodil
of scented spring,
not petaled rose
and angel-wing
were cradle-spun
to lay
the Holy One.
He chose
shrill hay,
rough grass.
No noble beast
to bear
his Lady Mother there.
A plodding ass
awoke the night.
The least
of men
attended then
the Infant birth
that shook the earth.
And yet
(lest we forget)
a baby’s cry
immutable in sky
deadlocked the Star
seen from afar
and brought God’s angels down
at Bethlehem
to crown
with diadem
of light
the Son
of Men!
Like a bell-swell,
like a bell
it rings again:
“Peace, men, good will!”
Oh, hear!
Evelyn Coffey
