Christmas Poem Collection
Christmas Poems
The best-loved Christmas poems, carols and hymns in English, from the Nativity to Santa Claus, bells and snow: the poems of the Christmas Poem Collection, free to read online.
143 poems 5 chapters Eugene Field · George MacDonald · Robert Herrick
Chapter 1
Carols and Hymns
40 poems
-
Silent Night, Holy Night
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
'Round yon Virgin Mother and Child. … -
O Come, All Ye Faithful
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him born the King of angels; … -
Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the new-born King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild, … -
Joy to the World
Joy to the world! the lord is come;
Let earth re-ceive her King;
Let ev-ery heart pre-pare him room, … -
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel;
That mourns in lonely exile here, … -
O Little Town of Bethlehem
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep … -
Away in a Manger
Away in a manger,
No crib for his bed,
The little Lord Jesus … -
Once in Royal David’s City
Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby … -
We Three Kings of Orient Are
We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain, … -
The First Nowell
The first Nowell the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay, keeping their sheep, … -
O Holy Night
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth;
Long lay the world in sin and error pining, … -
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth … -
Angels from the Realms of Glory
Angels, from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story, … -
God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay;
Remember Christ our Saviour … -
Angels We Have Heard on High
Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply … -
Deck the Halls
Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la la la la la.
'Tis the season to be jolly, … -
Jingle Bells
Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go … -
Good King Wenceslas
Good King Wenceslas looked out,
On the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, … -
Good Christian Men, Rejoice
Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart, and soul, and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say: … -
Ding Dong Merrily on High
Ding dong! merrily on high
In heav’n the bells are ringing:
Ding dong! verily the sky … -
The Holly and the Ivy
The holly and the ivy,
Now are both well grown.
Of all the trees that are in the wood … -
What Child Is This?
What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, … -
See, Amid the Winter’s Snow
See, amid the winter’s snow,
Born for us on earth below,
See, the tender Lamb appears, … -
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
While shepherds watch’d their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The Angel of the Lord came down, … -
I saw Three Ships
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas day, on Christmas day.
I saw three ships come sailing in … -
The Sussex Carol
On Christmas night all Christians sing
To hear the news the angels bring.
News of great joy, news of great mirth, … -
I sing of a Maiden
I sing of a maiden
That is makeless;
King of all kingës … -
The Coventry Carol
Lully, lullah, thou little tiny child,
Bye bye, lully, lullay.
Thou little tiny child, … -
The Cherry-Tree Carol
As Joseph was a-walking
He heard an angel sing:—
‘This night shall be born … -
Of a Rose, a Lovely Rose
Of a rose, a lovely rose,
Of a rose is all my song.
Listen, lordings, both eld and ying, … -
The Boar’s Head Carol
The boar's head in hand bear I,
Bedecked with bays and rosemary;
And I pray you, my masters, be merry, … -
Christ was born on Christmas Day
Christ was born on Christmas day;
Wreathe the holly, twine the bay;
Christus natus hodie: … -
Christians, Awake
Christians, awake, salute the happy morn
Whereon the Saviour of the world was born;
Rise to adore the Mystery of love, … -
Masters, in this Hall
To Bethlem did they go, the shepherds three;
To Bethlem did they go, to see whe’r it were so or no,
Whether Christ were born or no … -
Outlanders, whence come ye last?
Outlanders, whence come ye last?
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
Through what green sea and great have ye passed? … -
Welcome Yule
Welcome Yule, thou merry man,
In worship of this holy day.
Welcome be thou, heaven-king, … -
Love Came Down at Christmas
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine,
Love was born at Christmas, … -
Hymn for the Nativity
Happy night and happy silence downward softly stealing,
Softly stealing over land and sea,
Stars from golden censors swing a silent eager feeling … -
A Christmas Carol for Children
Good news from heaven the angels bring,
Glad tidings to the earth they sing:
To us this day a child is given, … -
The Twelve Days of Christmas
On the first day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree. …
Chapter 2
Santa Claus and the Children
26 poems
-
A Visit from St - Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore
’t was 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, … -
Up on the House-Top
Up on the house-top reindeer pause,
Out jumps good old Santa Claus;
Down through the chimney with lots of toys, … -
Christmas Greetings from a Fairy to a Child
Lady dear, if Fairies may
For a moment lay aside
Cunning tricks and elfish play, … -
Hang Up the Baby’s Stocking
Hang up the baby’s stocking:
Be sure you don't forget;
The dear little dimpled darling! … -
Carol of the Field Mice
Villagers all, this frosty tide,
Let your doors swing open wide,
Though wind may follow, and snow beside, … -
Santa Claus
He comes in the night! He comes in the night!
He softly, silently comes;
While the little brown heads on the pillows so white … -
The Festival of St. Nicholas
"Welcome, friend! St. Nicholas, welcome!
Bring no rod for us to-night!
While our voices bid thee welcome, … -
Star of the East
Star of the East, that long ago
Brought wise men on their way
Where, angels singing to and fro, … -
Why Do the Bells of Christmas Ring?
Why do the bells of Christmas ring?
Why do little children sing?
Once a lovely shining star, … -
Christmas Eve (Field)
Oh, hush thee, little Dear-my-Soul,
The evening shades are falling,---
Hush thee, my dear, dost thou not hear … -
Christmas Treasures
I count my treasures o'er with care,---
The little toy my darling knew,
A little sock of faded hue, … -
God Bless Us Every One
"God bless us every one!" prayed Tiny Tim,
Crippled, and dwarfed of body, yet so tall
Of soul, we tiptoe earth to look on him, … -
The Lamb
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bade thee feed … -
A Cradle Song
Sweet dreams, form a shade
O’er my lovely infant’s head!
Sweet dreams of pleasant streams … -
A Cradle Hymn
Hush! my dear, lie still and slumber,
Holy angels guard thy bed!
Heavenly blessings without number … -
A Christmas Lullaby
Sleep, baby, sleep! The Mother sings;
Heaven's angels kneel and fold their wings:
Sleep, baby, sleep! … -
Christmas Day and Every Day
Star high
Baby low:
’Twixt the two … -
The Christmas Child
“Little one, who straight hast come
Down the heavenly stair,
Tell us all about your home, … -
A Christmas Prayer
Loving looks the large-eyed cow,
Loving stares the long-eared ass
At Heaven’s glory in the grass! … -
That Holy King
They all were looking for a king
To slay their foes and lift them high:
Thou cam’st, a little baby thing … -
The Birds
When Jesus Christ was four years old,
The angels brought Him toys of gold,
Which no man ever had bought or sold. … -
He Came All So Still
He came all so still
Where His mother was,
As dew in April … -
The Carol of the Poor Children
We are the poor children, come out to see the sights
On this day of all days, on this night of nights,
The stars in merry parties are dancing in the sky, … -
Waiting for the Kings
Over the frozen plain snow-white
The three Kings will come tonight;
We shall know by the kettle-drums … -
A Christmas Song
When mother-love makes all things bright,
When joy comes with the morning light.
When children gather round their tree, … -
Sery
With wild surprise
Four great eyes
In two small heads, …
Chapter 3
The First Christmas
36 poems
-
In the Bleak Mid-Winter
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, … -
The Oxen
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
‘Now they are all on their knees,’
An elder said as we sat in a flock … -
A Christmas Carol
The Christ-child lay on Mary’s lap,
His hair was like a light.
(O weary, weary were the world, … -
The Three Kings
Three Kings came riding from far away,
Melchior and Caspar and Baltasar;
Three Wise Men out of the East were they, … -
The Magi
Now as at all times I can see in the mind’s eye,
In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones
Appear and disappear in the blue depth of the sky … -
A Christmas Carol
Before the paling of the stars,
Before the winter morn,
Before the earliest cock-crow, … -
Brightest and best of the Sons of the Morning!
Brightest and best of the sons of the morning!
Dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid!
Star of the East, the horizon adorning, … -
How far is it to Bethlehem?
How far is it to Bethlehem?
Not very far.
Shall we find the stable-room … -
Moonless Darkness Stands Between
Moonless darkness stands between.
Past, the Past, no more be seen!
But the Bethlehem-star may lead me … -
Christmas Carol
The kings they came from out the south,
All dressed in ermine fine;
They bore Him gold and chrysoprase, … -
Nativity
Immensity, cloistered in thy dear womb,
Now leaves His well-beloved imprisonment;
There He hath made Himself to His intent, … -
The Burning Babe
As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near, … -
Christmas
All after pleasures as I rid one day,
My horse and I both tired, body and mind,
With full cry of affections quite astray, … -
New Prince, New Pomp
Behold a silly tender Babe,
In freezing winter night,
In homely manger trembling lies, … -
A Hymn on the Nativity of my Saviour
I sing the birth was born to-night,
The Author both of life and light,
The angel so did sound it: … -
The Angels
Run, shepherds, run, where Bethlehem blest appears,
We bring the best of news; be not dismayed;
A Saviour there is born more old than years, … -
The Shepherds
O than the fairest day, thrice fairer night!
Night to blest days in which a sun doth rise,
Of which that golden eye which clears the skies … -
Christ’s Nativity
Awake, glad heart! get up and sing!
It is the Birthday of thy King.
Awake! awake! … -
The Shepherds
Sweet, harmless livers! on whose holy leisure,
Waits innocence and pleasure;
Whose leaders to those pastures and clear springs … -
The Shepherds went their hasty Way
The shepherds went their hasty way,
And found the lowly stable-shed,
Where the virgin-mother lay; … -
A Christmas Hymn
It was the calm and silent night!
Seven hundred years and fifty-three
Had Rome been growing up to might, … -
Ex Ore Infantium
Little Jesus, wast Thou shy
Once, and just so small as I?
And what did it feel like to be … -
The Adoration of the Wise Men
Saw you never in the twilight,
When the sun had left the skies,
Up in heaven the clear stars shining, … -
Regina Coeli
Say, did his Sisters wonder what could Joseph see
In a mild, silent little Maid like thee?
And was it awful, in that narrow house, … -
Unto us a Son is given
Given, not lent,
And not withdrawn—once sent,
This Infant of mankind, this One, … -
Bethlehem
There man was all too marred with sin,
The ass, the ox were bidden in.
Where angels were unmeet to come … -
A Song for the Season
The Kings to the Stable
They brought sweet spice,
The gold and the silver, … -
Tryste Noël
The Ox he openeth wide the Doore
And from the Snowe he calls her inne,
And he hath seen her smile therefore, … -
The Star of Bethlehem
When, marshalled on the nightly plain,
The glittering host bestud the sky,
One star alone, of all the train, … -
The Birds of Bethlehem
I heard the bells of Bethlehem ring—
Their voice was sweeter than the priests’;
I heard the birds of Bethlehem sing … -
They leave the Land of Gems and Gold
They leave the land of gems and gold,
The shining portals of the East;
For Him, the woman’s Seed foretold, … -
Gloria in Excelsis
As on the night before this happy morn,
A blessèd angel unto shepherds told
Where (in a stable) He was poorly born, … -
The Creatures’ Nowel
Where Mary keeps her court
With the humble and the high,
The little dog has sport … -
Neighbors of the Christ Night
Deep in the shelter of the cave,
The ass with drooping head
Stood weary in the shadow, where … -
A Hymn of the Nativity
Chorus.
COME we shepherds whose blest sight
Hath met Love’s noon in Nature’s night, … -
On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity
This is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of heaven’s eternal king,
Of wedded maid and virgin mother born, …
Chapter 4
Feast and Fireside
24 poems
-
Ceremonies for Christmas
Come, bring with a noise,
My merry, merry boys,
The Christmas log to the firing; … -
Some Say That Ever ’Gainst That Season
Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long: … -
The Wassail
Give way, give way, ye gates, and win
An easy blessing to your bin
And basket, by our entering in. … -
Here We Come A-Wassailing
Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand’ring … -
Twelfth Night
Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
Where bean’s the king of the sport here; … -
Christmas in the Olden Time
The damsel donned her kirtle sheen;
The hall was dressed with holly green;
Forth to the wood did merry-men go … -
The Mahogany-Tree
Christmas is here;
Winds whistle shrill,
Icy and chill, … -
The Christmas Holly
The holly! the holly! oh, twine it with bay—
Come give the holly a song;
For it helps to drive stern winter away, … -
Old Father Christmas
Here comes old Father Christmas,
With sound of fife and drums;
With mistletoe about his brows, … -
The Mistletoe
When winter nights grow long,
And winds without blow cold,
We sit in a ring round the warm wood-fire, … -
Now Winter Nights Enlarge
Now winter nights enlarge
The number of their hours;
And clouds their storms discharge … -
A Christmas Catch
To shorten winter’s sadness,
See where the nymphs with gladness
Disguisèd all are coming … -
Thrice Welcome!
Now thrice welcome, Christmas,
Which brings us good cheer,
Minced-pies and plum porridge, … -
A Christmas Carol at Dingley Dell
I care not for Spring; on his fickle wing
Let the blossoms and buds be borne:
He woos them amain with his treacherous rain, … -
Wassail Chorus at the Mermaid Tavern
christmas knows a merry, merry place,
Where he goes with fondest face,
Brightest eye, brightest hair: … -
The Wassailers’ Song
Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white, and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl is made of a maplin tree; … -
Holly and Ivy
Holly and Ivy made a great party,
Who should have the mastery
In landës where they go. … -
Church Decking At Christmas
Would that our scrupulous sires had dared to
leave
Less scanty measure of those graceful rites … -
The Minstrels
The minstrels played their Christmas tune
To-night beneath my cottage eaves;
While, smitten by a lofty moon, … -
Ballade of Christmas Ghosts
Between the moonlight and the fire
In winter twilights long ago,
What ghosts we raised for your desire, … -
Christmas in India
Dim dawn behind the tamarisks—the sky is saffron-yellow—
As the women in the village grind the corn,
And the parrots seek the river-side, each calling to his fellow … -
Christmas at Sea
The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand;
The wind was a nor’wester, blowing squally oft the sea; … -
A Christmas Letter From Australia
’Tis Christmas, and the North wind blows; ’twas two years yesterday
Since from the Lusitania’s bows I looked o’er Table Bay,
A tripper round the narrow world, a pilgrim of the main, … -
Christmas
So now is come our joyful’st feast;
Let every man be jolly;
Each room with ivy-leaves is drest, …
Chapter 5
Bells, Snow and the New Year
17 poems
-
Christmas Bells
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet … -
Ring Out, Wild Bells
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night; … -
The Time Draws Near the Birth of Christ
1
THE time draws near the birth of Christ:
The moon is hid; the night is still; … -
The Darkling Thrush
I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter's dregs made desolate … -
Bells Across the Snow
O Christmas, merry Christmas!
Is it really come again,
With its memories and greetings, … -
Noel: Christmas Eve, 1913
A frosty Christmas Eve when the stars were shining
Fared I forth alone where westward falls the hill,
And from many a village in the water’d valley … -
Winter was not unkind
Winter was not unkind because uncouth;
His prison’d time made me a closer guest,
And gave thy graciousness a warmer zest, … -
A Christmas Carmen
I
Sound over all waters, reach out from all lands,
The chorus of voices, the clasping of hands; … -
The Mystic's Christmas
“All hail!” the bells of Christmas rang,
“All hail!” the monks at Christmas sang,
The merry monks who kept with cheer … -
A Christmas Carol
The earth has grown old with its burden of care,
But at Christmas it always is young,
The heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair, … -
A Christmas Carol
there ’s a song in the air!
There ’s a star in the sky!
There ’s a mother’s deep prayer … -
A Christmas Carol
"What means this glory round our feet,"
The Magi mused, "more bright than morn?"
And voices chanted clear and sweet, … -
The Christmas Silence
Hushed are the pigeons cooing low
On dusty rafters of the loft;
And mild-eyed oxen, breathing soft, … -
The Waits
At the break of Christmas Day,
Through the frosty starlight ringing,
Faint and sweet and far away, … -
Christmas Snow
Like small curled feathers, white and soft,
The little clouds went by,
Across the moon, and past the stars, … -
The New-Year’s Gift
Let others look for pearl and gold
Tissues, or tabbies manifold;
One only lock of that sweet hay … -
Calm on the Listening Ear of Night
Calm on the listening ear of night
Come heaven's melodious strains,
Where wild Judea stretches far …