Homesick at Home

Christmas 1949

Christmas Poem by G. K. Chesterton

Christmas Poem

G.K. Chesterton

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.

Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost---how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky's dome.

This world is wild as an old wife's tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall all men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

(Gilbert Keith Chesterton)

Categories: 

More Stories

MY GRANDFATHER'S COMMON SENSE

A Fathers Day Reflection
May 25, 2024
My Grandfather's Wisdom A Father’s Day Reflection

By Fr. Frederick Edlefsen

When I was a boy, we often rode to “the...Read more

THE OTHER SIDE OF MARKETS

A Reflection on Catholic Social Teaching
May 25, 2024
The Other Side of Markets Why Grandmere Introduced Me to a Fishmonger By Fr. Frederick Edlefsen When I was a teenager, Grandmere – my...Read more

WHAT IS MASS?

Corpus Christi Reflections
May 25, 2024
What is Mass? A Reflection on the Body and Blood of Christ

By Fr. Frederick Edlefsen

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote this in...Read more
Subscribe to Blog