Grandma's Christmas

CHRISTMAS gifts for darling grandma—Loving counsel we must take,What to buy to grace her Christmas,What to seek, or choose, or make.

She cares not for gold and silver,Nor the treasures they will buy;Silken robe and shining trinketFolded in their wrappings lie.

Fred shall give her fragrant flowers,Sprays of roses, spikes of bloom;Lilie paint a text belovedTo adorn her sunny room.

Hal shall pile in purple clusters,Grapes, the drops of summer's bloodCaught by autumn when the sunshineLanced the glowing summer wood.

I must find some dainty slippers,Lined with fur from toe to heel,Or a coif of something mistyThat her white hair won't conceal.

****Christmas gifts for grandma sleepingNot poor gifts of human love;Something sent by thoughtful angelsFrom the Glory up above;

Not the roses freshly gatheredThat she loved on earth so well;But the fadeless bloom of Eden,Amaranth and asphodel.

Not the shoes of mortal fashionWait the weary, wayworn feet;Shod with peace, they step securelyOn that shining upper street.

Not the fabric frail and mistyResting on the silvered hair,But the crown He gives his children,Invisible, yet hovering there.

So comes grandma's Christmas morning,Dawning soft and silently,Bringing God's best gifts together,Christ and Immortality.