Advent poems

(Edit, November 2007: My recently published Advent book contains lots more material on Advent - Order from Amazon, or from the publisher 

One of our readings on Advent Sunday was Betjeman's Christmas poem, which is warm and witty.  It's too long a story to tell as to why we had the Christmas poem at Advent, when I had meantime discovered that Betjeman also wrote an Advent poem - one of his lesser known pieces. I'll have to save the Advent one up for next year. I love the way he contrasts the gifts that we give - and the mixed motives with which we give them - with the outrageous and free generosity of God's gift.

excerpt from Advent 1955 by John Betjeman

...Some ways indeed are very odd
By which we hail the birth of God.

We raise the price of things in shops,
We give plain boxes fancy tops
And lines which traders cannot sell
Thus parcell'd go extremely well
We dole out bribes we call a present
To those to whom we must be pleasant
For business reasons. Our defence is
These bribes are charged against expenses
And bring relief in Income Tax
Enough of these unworthy cracks!
'The time draws near the birth of Christ'.
A present that cannot be priced
Given two thousand years ago
Yet if God had not given so
He still would be a distant stranger
And not the Baby in the manger.

Comments

[jimmy]

Teenage pregnancy
single Mother
a shoulder to lean on
and she loves him
like an older brother
Homeless
a blanket spread on straw
upon the breast
her new born baby clings
the first millennium begins

[Mary]

Thank you Maggi. Why isn't this better known? We used the Christmas poem at the midnight service last year and repeated the last verse more or less bang on midnight - spine tingling.....

[Mike E]

I read this as "Benjamin" first time round. Blimey, I thought, his writing is coming on!