The poem
There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim, And never before or again, When the nights are strong with a darkness long, And the dark is alive with rain.
Never we know but in sleet and in snow, The place where the great fires are, That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth And the heart of the earth a star.
And at night we win to the ancient inn Where the child in the frost is furled, We follow the feet where all souls meet At the inn at the end of the world.
The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red, For the flame of the sun is flown, The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold, And a Child comes forth alone.
This poem is a powerful glimpse of the life of Christ. Chesterton saw all of history in terms of the incarnation of Christ. He detailed this view in his book "The Everlasting Man". I recently ran across this beautiful poem. Many of the friends I shared it with were greatly moved. The third stanza is the most moving for me personally - we follow the feet where all souls meet/at the inn at the end of the world. Rather…
Read the whole commentThis poem is a powerful glimpse of the life of Christ. Chesterton saw all of history in terms of the incarnation of Christ. He detailed this view in his book "The Everlasting Man". I recently ran across this beautiful poem. Many of the friends I shared it with were greatly moved.
The third stanza is the most moving for me personally - we follow the feet where all souls meet/at the inn at the end of the world. Rather than join the prevailing pretense that this earthly life is permanent or even that it is enough, Chesterton sees this life as it is. We all march toward the inn at the end of the world. And of course the most important issue about the ancient inn was this: was there room for the child? And when we win to the ancient inn, that will be the question still.
The final stanza reflects Chesterton's observation about the pagan cults of ancient times - what he called the gossip of the gods. Many pagan beliefs around the world began with a belief that even their many gods answered to a father Spirit who had created both the world and the gods themselves. This idea is not so far off, but by the time of Christ the ancients had so corrupted and multiplied their many tales of the gods, that the whole system of mythology was as disgusting as our own worst forms of entertainment. Into this world - the peak of civilization, for which the pantheon, or the house of all the gods, was the symbol - the Christ child came. And 'the gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold, and a Child comes forth alone'.
Thanks for taking time to read my thoughts. I'd love to hear your thoughts on A Child of the Snows.
Pat Colwell