Ella Higginson

Christmas Eve

Summary


"Christmas Eve" by Ella Higginson paints a fleeting winter sunset in jewel-bright colours — crimson, purple, opal — as the sun sinks into the sea. The poem's beauty turns bittersweet in its closing lines, where the speaker confronts the sun directly, acknowledging that however gloriously it rises again at dawn, it can never restore the Christmas that has already slipped away. Loss and longing pulse beneath the luminous imagery.

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Straight thro’ a fold of purple mist
The sun goes down—a crimson wheel—
And like an opal burns the sea
That once was cold as steel.

A crimson sun setting through purple mist over an opal sea, illustrating the poem Christmas Eve by Ella Higginson.

With pomp of purple, gold and red,
Thou wilt come back at morrow’s dawn…
But thou can’st never bring, O Sun,
The Christmas that is gone!

Credits

Ella Higginson was an American poet and short-story writer from the Pacific Northwest, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was once named the poet laureate of Washington State. "Christmas Eve" showcases her gift for vivid natural imagery fused with quiet emotional depth.
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