Decked with flowers a simple hearse Nowhere was a smile that day, No, ah no! for each one seemed to say : : "The road should mourn and be veiled in gloom, So fair a corpse shall leave its home! Should mourn and should weep, ah, well-away! So fair a corpse shall pass to-day!" A CHRISTMAS CAROL FROM THE NOEI BOURGUIGNON DE GUI BARÔZAI I HEAR along our street Pass the minstrel throngs; Hark! they play so sweet, On their hautboys, Christmas songs! Let us by the fire Ever higher Sing them till the night expire! In December ring Every day the chimes; Loud the gleemen sing In the streets their merry rhymes. Ever higher Sing them till the night expire. Shepherds at the grange, Sang, with many a change Christmas carols until morn. Ever higher Sing them till the night expire! These good people sang Songs devout and sweet; While the rafters rang, There they stood with freezing feet. Let us by the fire Ever higher Sing them till the night expire. Nuns in frigid cells At this holy tide, For want of something else, Christmas songs at times have tried. Let us by the fire Ever higher Sing them till the night expire! Washerwomen old, To the sound they beat, With uncovered heads and feet. Let us by the fire Ever higher Sing them till the night expire. Who by the fireside stands But he who blows his hands Not so gay a carol brings. Let us by the fire Ever higher Sing them till the night expire! |