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Custom
Poetry
For All Occasions
Welcome Friends Merry
Christmas to All
THE CHRISTMAS EVE THEY TOOK JESUS AWAY
The skill of a carpenter, artisan’s
hand
Fashioned a manger he wanted to stand
In a place in the village where it could be seen
On a hill overlooking a New England green
He was old and quite frail, but he
carved out of wood
A beautiful manger that soon would be stood
In a schoolyard on a hillside overlooking the town
And some folks went along to help place it around
Each figure was grand, with a hand
painted face
Depicting an earth rendered heavenly grace
The figure of Jesus in bed of sweet hay
Lay sleeping in peace til they took him away
The crèche stood for days and the
people were thrilled
At the beautiful manger high up on the hill
By day in the sunlight the figures were clear
And at night in his lights he would make them appear
Then a townsperson claimed that it had
to come down
No signs of religion on public school ground
A Nativity scene’s not appropriate today
You will have to dismantle and take it away
A few went to help him, but up on the
hill
The winds brought in signs of the first winter chill
In a blustery, icy and wind-driven hail
Too hard for an old man, so aged and pail
But he ordered the others to go on back
home
And he lifted the Christ Child with strength of his own
He laid it on blankets and knelt down to pray
By the figure of Christ he was taking away
His spirit was shattered and in his
dismay
The figures of Mary and Joseph would stay
For the storm had grown wicked and of the display
The best he could do was take Jesus away
In tears he stepped off of the public
school ground
And went down to the square in the middle of town
Where the people had gathered to gaze at a star
And the beautiful crèche on the hillside afar
A star beamed from heaven a beautiful
light
That shown on the manger and lit up the night
A miracle happened right there in the skies
And the artist looked upward with faith in his eyes
The people remarked to the old man that
night
That the laws made in heaven were laws that were right
So they told him to take the sweet baby and place
Him back into the manger in His holy space
But the figure was gone, and no one
could conceive
Of what happened to Jesus on that Christmas Eve
He was here in my wagon in just such a way
Now somebody’s taken my Jesus away!
Dear God, what’s become of this poor
human race
We no longer rejoice in the light of God’s grace
We are tarnished of spirit and soiled of heart
To remove such a blessing from a carpenter’s cart
Look up on the hillside! Another had
gone
To return baby Jesus to where he belonged!
It’s the one who complained, who now places the child
In a manger his voice once decried and defiled
In pure adoration he fingered the face
Of the hand-whittled Christ Child with hand-painted grace
And that Christmas was one he would always extol
For he knew that no laws could encompass the soul
Oh, glory to God! And peace be to man!
May the spirit of Christmas descend on this land
Oh, blessed be the artisan! Blessed be his skill!
And the one who placed Jesus back up on the hill!
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