A poem by GK Chesterton
A CHRISTMAS SONG FOR THREE GUILDS
Saint Joseph to the carpenters said on a Christmas Day:
"The master shall have patience, and the 'prentice shall obey.
And your word unto your women shall be nowise harsh or wild;
For the sake of me, your master, who have worshipped Wife and Child.
But softly you shall frame the fence, and softly carve the door,
And softly plane the table - as to spread it for the poor.
And all your thoughts be soft and white as the wood of the white tree -
but if they tear the Charter, let the tocsin speak for me!
Let the wooden sign above your door be prouder to be scarred
Than the lion-shield of Lancelot that hung at Joyous Garde."
Saint Crispin to the shoemakers said on a Christmastide:
"He who fashions at another's feet will get no good of pride.
They were bleeding on the Mountain, the feet that brought good news,
The latchets of Whose shoes we were not worthy to unloose.
See that your feet offend not, nor lightly lift your head,
Tread softly on the sunlit paths the bright dust of the dead.
Let your own feet be shod with peace; be lowly all your lives -
But if they touch the Charter, ye shall nail it with your knives!
And the billhooks of the commons shall drive is as dense array
As once a crash of arrows came, upon Saint Crispin's Day."
Saint Luke unto the painters on Christmas day he said:
"See that the robes are white that you dare dip in gold and red.
For only gold the kings can give, and only blood the saints.
And his high task grows perilous that mixes them in paints.
Keep you the ancient order; follow the men that knew
The labyrinth of black and white, the maze of green and blue;
Paint mighty things, paint paltry things, paint silly things or sweet -
But if men break the Charter, ye may slay them in the street.
And if you paint one post for them - ah, but you know it well:
You paint a harlot's face to drag all heroes down to Hell."
Almighty God to all mankind on Christmas Day said he:
"I rent you from the old red hills, and, rending, made you free.
There was charter; there was challenge; in a blast of breath I gave;
You may be all things other; you cannot be a slave.
You shall be tired and tolerant of fancies as they fade -
But if men doubt the Charter, ye shall call on the Crusade!
Trumpet and torch and catapult, cannon and bow and blade,
Because it was My challenge to all the things I made."
Saint Joseph to the carpenters said on a Christmas Day:
"The master shall have patience, and the 'prentice shall obey.
And your word unto your women shall be nowise harsh or wild;
For the sake of me, your master, who have worshipped Wife and Child.
But softly you shall frame the fence, and softly carve the door,
And softly plane the table - as to spread it for the poor.
And all your thoughts be soft and white as the wood of the white tree -
but if they tear the Charter, let the tocsin speak for me!
Let the wooden sign above your door be prouder to be scarred
Than the lion-shield of Lancelot that hung at Joyous Garde."
Saint Crispin to the shoemakers said on a Christmastide:
"He who fashions at another's feet will get no good of pride.
They were bleeding on the Mountain, the feet that brought good news,
The latchets of Whose shoes we were not worthy to unloose.
See that your feet offend not, nor lightly lift your head,
Tread softly on the sunlit paths the bright dust of the dead.
Let your own feet be shod with peace; be lowly all your lives -
But if they touch the Charter, ye shall nail it with your knives!
And the billhooks of the commons shall drive is as dense array
As once a crash of arrows came, upon Saint Crispin's Day."
Saint Luke unto the painters on Christmas day he said:
"See that the robes are white that you dare dip in gold and red.
For only gold the kings can give, and only blood the saints.
And his high task grows perilous that mixes them in paints.
Keep you the ancient order; follow the men that knew
The labyrinth of black and white, the maze of green and blue;
Paint mighty things, paint paltry things, paint silly things or sweet -
But if men break the Charter, ye may slay them in the street.
And if you paint one post for them - ah, but you know it well:
You paint a harlot's face to drag all heroes down to Hell."
Almighty God to all mankind on Christmas Day said he:
"I rent you from the old red hills, and, rending, made you free.
There was charter; there was challenge; in a blast of breath I gave;
You may be all things other; you cannot be a slave.
You shall be tired and tolerant of fancies as they fade -
But if men doubt the Charter, ye shall call on the Crusade!
Trumpet and torch and catapult, cannon and bow and blade,
Because it was My challenge to all the things I made."