大象传媒

Christmas in Wartime

No street lamps shone in Britain then.
No lights from windows glowed.
The countryside and towns were dark
In every street and road.

But then, when frost was in the air
The moon and stars shone forth.
The constellations all were clear
With Polaris to the North.

On such a night in Bethlehem,
Two thousand years ago,
As shepherds watched their flocks at rest
A star gave forth its glow.

A star that gave out light and hope
Of better things to come,
For god had sent us a great gift,
No less than his own son.

So in the dark hours of the war
With death so often near.
The star shone out and angels sang
And so dispelled our fear.

I think that wartime Christmastide,
Though food and goods were short,
Developed in us comradeship
As each for other thought.

There was no rush to buy and buy
As is now the fashion.
For many things that we might want
Were strictly on the ration.

But what we couldn鈥檛 buy we made
With great determination.
Paper chains from newsprint strips
We鈥檇 paint for decoration.

And we did have a Christmas tree,
But no electric lights.
We had little coloured candles
In reds and greens and whites.

These candles had a real live flame
And no safety regulations,
But I never heard of any case
Of Christmas conflagrations.

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