Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/75

H. Isabel Graham The Christmas Ship, the Christmas Ship,
 * That golden ship at sea,

With pennons blue and sailors true,
 * A bounteous barge is she.

All fashioned by such loving thought
 * And piloted by prayer,

While homeless children dream at night
 * Of what her cargoes bear.


 * The Christmas Ship, the Christmas Ship,

What dollies and what dreams!
 * 'Twould make the hardest heart expand
 * And burst its self-bound streams.

And, as the stockings hang in rows
 * Beside the blazing fire,

Bright seraphim will come at eve
 * And grant each child's desire.

The Christmas Ship, the Christmas Ship,
 * How holy it appears,

Laden with toys and endless joys
 * To dry these children's tears!

In that sad land where little ones
 * Have grown like aged men,

So weighted down with woe, but lol
 * The Christ-child comes again.

He's Captain of that Christmas Ship,
 * And Santa's at the prow;

As merrily it speeds along
 * Hearts will be happy now.

For love has looked in sorrow's eyes,
 * Child hands have bridged the main,

The deadly din of battle dies,
 * For Christ has come again.