• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books and booklets
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry and songs
  • Slang
  • Timeline
  • Topics
    • Anzac Day
    • Australia Day
    • Australian Aborigines
    • Australianism
    • Australian literature
    • The Eureka Rebellion
    • Explorers
    • Significant events and commemorative dates

The Christmas Angel [poem by Mary Hannay Foott, 21 December 1897]

29 October 2012 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: A poem by Mary Hannay Foott. Published in The Warwick Argus, 21 December 1897.]

The Christmas Angel.

Through skies of midnight swift he swept,
His earthward voyage holding —
Our year-long exile — whilst we slept
His wings besides as folding.

O Christmas, ere thy garments bright
O’er Western clouds are trailing,
Through farther heavens lies thy flight,
O’er other lands thou ’rt sailing.

Thou art ONE DAY for us and them :
Together, though asunder,
Are they who hold the raiment hem
And they thy drawn-smile under !

To lands by blue hills shut from us,
By wild seas separated,
Remember, whilst thou easiest thus,
Thou goes’t not unfreighted.

When thou shalt see, in festal ring,
Dimmed eyes and lips that quiver
For “Absent Friends” recalled, then bring,
Sweet memories — then, if ever.

When thou shalt hear, if we are blest,
Our names in kindness spoken,
Breathe blessings from our hearts, to rest
On them that give the token.

Any when thy twelvemonth’s rest is given
Again, dear Lotus-eater,
And for thy entering back to Heaven
Thou summonest St. Peter.

Bear with thee, through the shining door,
The message now we falter —
If world-light wane not quite before
The glory of the Altar —

If any word of ours may reach
The Happy, for the setting
Of added happiness on each,
Say for us — “Unforgetting.”

Mary Hannay Foott.



Source:
The Warwick Argus (St. Lucia, Qld.), Tuesday 21 December 1897, page 7

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Christmas, Mary Hannay Foott (author) (1846-1918), poem, SourceTrove, year1897

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Western bush fire: Several crops burnt [5 January 1906]
  • Buy “Australian-Made” [by W. R. Bagnall, 22 June 1928]
  • The Bad Boy [poem regarding Henry Parkes, 12 May 1877]
  • A rod in pickle [political cartoon regarding Henry Parkes, 12 May 1877]
  • “Devil’s luck” [short story, 20 December 1901]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • The drover’s wife [by Henry Lawson]
  • The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Australian slang

Categories

Archives

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Search this site



For Australia


Copyright © 2022 · Log in