The souls of the sad with their coveted kiss.

"Though crystalline frost on the trees,

Though ice on the river and snow on the plain

Are freezing the breath of the shivering breeze.

The heart has Nepenthe for all of its pain;

For Christmas is king, and his bountiful hand

Is giving its treasures to mountain and lea,

And gentleness rules on the billowy strand,

And reigns in the far-away isles of the sea."

This is the carol that swells