Xmas Poem by john coldwell

Bethlehem's star still marks the place,
Where an empty manger now holds stage.
We'll have no saviour for the human race,
No need for God, in our new age.
We unbundled the gift in swaddling clothes,
We cut it with a knife,
What is this gift so rudely wrapped?
O, 'tis only everlasting life.

Away, you child they call the Christ,
Who cheated Herod's sword,
Your gift it comes too highly priced,
Your presence brings discord.
We will not have this God made man,
That He, mankind, may damn.
We will not look on Calvary,
Away, you sacrificial Lamb!

Ox, ass and shepherds in woe depart,
From that fading angelic light,
Only gloom and emptiness in man's heart,
And winter's now far darker night.
Kings bring gifts, unwanted now,
For there is no-one to receive,
To the god of Gold we already bow,
This, and every Xmas eve.

The heaven sent gift we have declined,
For His cross we have put our own.
And for all the ills of humankind,
We must now ourselves atone.
No joy in our world this Winterville
Only grief to men on Earth
What now your echoing soul fulfil?
What now will be of worth?