HOW can I keep my Christmas feast 
 In its due festive show, 
Reft of the sight of the High Priest 
 From whom its glories flow? 

I hear the tuneful bells around, 
 The blessèd towers I see; 
A stranger on a foreign ground, 
 They peal a fast for me. 

O Britons! now so brave and high, 
 How will ye weep the day 
When Christ in judgment passes by, 
 And calls the Bride away! 

Your Christmas then will lose its mirth, 
 Your Easter lose its bloom: 
Abroad, a scene of strife and dearth; 
 Within, a cheerless home!