Star over Bethlehem Read online

  And you are my life,

  We are apart, love,

  And I am your wife.

  God then have pity

  And bring you to me

  Here in the city

  From over the sea.

  When you come home, love,

  What words will there be?

  You will say “Sunflower”

  And say it to me.

  Enchantment

  I LOST my love, she left me.

  My fair love,

  My false love,

  My fair false love.

  I wandered to the Fairy Hills,

  I cried to them to mend my ills,

  I called to my lost love,

  My fair love, my false love.

  I saw a Fairy Lady there

  With long white hands and drowning hair …

  And oh!—her face was wild and sweet,

  Was sweet and wild,

  Was wild and strange and fair …

  Her eyes looked past me,

  Through me and beyond me,

  Seeking for a vanished Fairy Lover.

  I walked by her side there,

  Down a Fairy Ride there,

  Seeking for a vanished Fairy Lover.

  I cried to the Hills there

  That they should mend my ills there,

  I called to my lost love,

  My fair love, my false fair love.

  But the Fairy Lady by my side

  She neither spoke nor moaned nor cried

  But pushed aside her drowning hair

  And oh! her face was wild and sweet

  And sweet and wild and fair …

  And now I am at home again

  And many seek to ease my pain

  They say in time I shall forget

  My fair love,

  My false love,

  My fair false love …

  And no one knows to look at me

  That all the time I only see

  Two long white hands and drowning hair

  And oh! a face so wild and strange and fair …

  Jenny by the Sky

  (From Star over Bethlehem)

  COME down to me, Jenny, come down from the hill,

  Come down to me here where I wait,

  Come down to my arms, to my lips, my desire,

  Come down all my hunger to sate.

  But Jenny walks lonely, her head in the air,

  She walks on the hilltop, the wind in her hair,

  She will not come down to me, loud though I cry,

  She walks with the wind, upturned face to the sky …

  In the cool of the evening I walked in the glade,

  And there I met God … and I was not afraid.

  Together we walked in the depths of the wood

  And together we looked at the things we had made,

  Together we looked—and we saw they were good …

  God made the World and the stars set on high,

  The Galaxies rushing, none knows where or why.

  God fashioned the Cosmos, the Universe wide,

  And the hills and the valleys, the birds in the wood,

  God made them and loved them, and saw they were good …

  And I—have made Jenny! To walk on the hill.

  She will not come down to me loud though I cry;

  She walks there for ever, her face to the sky,

  She will not come down though I call her,

  She will not come down to my greed,

  She is as I dreamed her … and made her

  Of my loving and longing and need …

  With my mind and my heart I made Jenny,

  I made her of love and desire,

  I made her to walk on the hilltop

  In loneliness, beauty and fire …

  In the cool of the evening I walked in the wood

  And God walked beside me …

  We both understood.

  Verses of Nowadays

  From a Grown-up to a Child

  THE fairies talk to little girls,

  They push aside their golden curls

  And whisper in a shell-pink ear—

  But what they say we cannot hear.

  We grown-ups are so tall and proud

  And fairies hate to shout aloud.

  The fairies run along the ground

  And baby girls can hear the sound,

  They double up, and crow and kick

  And beg their mothers to look quick.

  But when we look, they’ve always past,

  The little fairies run so fast.

  The fairies stay awake all night

  So little girls need take no fright,

  For if the night light does go out

  They know the fairies are about,

  And they can hear their silky wings—

  They are so kind, these darling things!

  I Wore My New Canary Suit

  I WORE my new canary suit

  To go and meet my love,

  We talked and talked of everything

  In earth and heaven above.

  I went again to meet my love,

  The years had flitted by,

  I wore my old canary suit

  To bid my love goodbye.

  I took it to a jumble sale

  But brought it back once more

  And hung it on an inner peg

  Within my cupboard door.

  I shall not meet my love again

  For he is in his grave.

  So—I’ve an old moth-eaten suit

  And he is young and brave …

  Racial Musings

  PRESUMPTIVE is Man to claim the right

  To arbitrate between God’s creatures so

  And place a gulf between the Black and White

  Deeper than sea or ocean waters flow.

  So strange it seems, this unpigmented pride,

  The paleness of a skin that knows not sun …

  Men all are built of bone;

  How hard then to decide

  If they are Apes or Men

  When life is done!

  Some think, and more than one,

  That coffee-coloured children meet the case,

  It is our duty so to take one’s fun

  That the resulting mixture has a face

  That nicely illustrates Mendelian lore.

  Oh, coffee-coloured world,

  You’ll be a BORE.

  Satiety but no variety.

  A BORE. A BORE. A BORE.

  Picnic 1960

  AFTERNOON Tea by the side of the road

  That is the meal that I love,

  Hundreds of cars rushing past all the time,

  Sunshine and clouds up above!

  Get out the chairs and set up the tea,

  Serviettes, too, are a must.

  Never a moment that’s quiet or dull,

  Sausage rolls flavoured with dust!

  Time to go home? Strew the orange peel round,

  Leave paper and portions of pie,

  Pack up the crocks and get into the queue,

  Perfect picnic place, love, and goodbye …

  About the Author

  Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She is the author of eighty crime novels and short-story collections, nineteen plays, two memoirs, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott.

  She first tried her hand at detective fiction while working in a hospital dispensary during World War I, creating the now legendary Hercule Poirot with her debut novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. With The Murder in the Vicarage, published in 1930, she introduced another beloved sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. Additional series characters include the husband-and-wife crime-fighting team of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, private investigator Parker Pyne, and Scotland Yard detectives Superintendent Battle and Inspector Japp.

  M
any of Christie’s novels and short stories were adapted into plays, films, and television series. The Mousetrap, her most famous play of all, opened in 1952 and is the longest-running play in history. Among her best-known film adaptations are Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Death on the Nile (1978), with Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov playing Hercule Poirot, respectively. On the small screen Poirot has been most memorably portrayed by David Suchet, and Miss Marple by Joan Hickson and subsequently Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie.

  Christie was first married to Archibald Christie and then to archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan, whom she accompanied on expeditions to countries that would also serve as the settings for many of her novels. In 1971 she achieved one of Britain’s highest honors when she was made a Dame of the British Empire. She died in 1976 at the age of eighty-five. Her one hundred and twentieth anniversary was celebrated around the world in 2010.

  www.AgathaChristie.com

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  Praise

  “Agatha Christie has provided entertainment, suspense, and temporary relief from the anxieties and traumas of life both in peace and war for millions through the world.”—P.D. James, New York Times bestselling author

  Other Works

  THE AGATHA CHRISTIE COLLECTION

  The Man in the Brown Suit

  The Secret of Chimneys

  The Seven Dials Mystery

  The Mysterious Mr. Quin

  The Sittaford Mystery

  Parker Pyne Investigates

  Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?

  Murder Is Easy

  The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories

  And Then There Were None

  Towards Zero

  Death Comes as the End

  Sparkling Cyanide

  The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories

  Crooked House

  Three Blind Mice and Other Stories

  They Came to Baghdad

  Destination Unknown

  Ordeal by Innocence

  Double Sin and Other Stories

  The Pale Horse

  Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories

  Endless Night

  Passenger to Frankfurt

  The Golden Ball and Other Stories

  The Mousetrap and Other Plays

  The Harlequin Tea Set

  The Hercule Poirot Mysteries

  The Mysterious Affair at Styles

  The Murder on the Links

  Poirot Investigates

  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

  The Big Four

  The Mystery of the Blue Train

  Peril at End House

  Lord Edgware Dies

  Murder on the Orient Express

  Three Act Tragedy

  Death in the Clouds

  The A.B.C. Murders

  Murder in Mesopotamia

  Cards on the Table

  Murder in the Mews

  Dumb Witness

  Death on the Nile

  Appointment with Death

  Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

  Sad Cypress

  One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

  Evil Under the Sun

  Five Little Pigs

  The Hollow

  The Labors of Hercules

  Taken at the Flood

  The Under Dog and Other Stories

  Mrs. McGinty’s Dead

  After the Funeral

  Hickory Dickory Dock

  Dead Man’s Folly

  Cat Among the Pigeons

  The Clocks

  Third Girl

  Hallowe’en Party

  Elephants Can Remember

  Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case

  The Miss Marple Mysteries

  The Murder at the Vicarage

  The Body in the Library

  The Moving Finger

  A Murder Is Announced

  They Do It with Mirrors

  A Pocket Full of Rye

  4:50 from Paddington

  The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side

  A Caribbean Mystery

  At Bertram’s Hotel

  Nemesis

  Sleeping Murder

  Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories

  The Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries

  The Secret Adversary

  Partners in Crime

  N or M?

  By the Pricking of My Thumbs

  Postern of Fate

  Memoirs

  An Autobiography

  Come, Tell Me How You Live

  Back Ad

  THE HERCULE POIROT MYSTERIES

  Match your wits with the famous Belgian detective.

  The Mysterious Affair at Styles

  The Murder on the Links

  Poirot Investigates

  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

  The Big Four

  The Mystery of the Blue Train

  Peril at End House

  Lord Edgware Dies

  Murder on the Orient Express

  Three Act Tragedy

  Death in the Clouds

  The A.B.C. Murders

  Murder in Mesopotamia

  Cards on the Table

  Murder in the Mews

  Dumb Witness

  Death on the Nile

  Appointment with Death

  Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

  Sad Cypress

  One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

  Evil Under the Sun

  Five Little Pigs

  The Hollow

  The Labors of Hercules

  Taken at the Flood

  The Under Dog and Other Stories

  Mrs. McGinty’s Dead

  After the Funeral

  Hickory Dickory Dock

  Dead Man’s Folly

  Cat Among the Pigeons

  The Clocks

  Third Girl

  Hallowe’en Party

  Elephants Can Remember

  Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case

  THE MISS MARPLE MYSTERIES

  Join the legendary spinster sleuth from St. Mary Mead in solving murders far and wide.

  The Murder at the Vicarage

  The Body in the Library

  The Moving Finger

  A Murder Is Announced

  They Do It with Mirrors

  A Pocket Full of Rye

  4:50 From Paddington

  The Mirror Crack’d

  A Caribbean Mystery

  At Bertram’s Hotel

  Nemesis

  Sleeping Murder

  Miss Marple: The Complete Short Story Collection

  THE TOMMY AND TUPPENCE MYSTERIES

  Jump on board with the entertaining crime-solving couple from Young Adventurers Ltd.

  The Secret Adversary

  Partners in Crime

  N or M?

  By the Pricking of My Thumbs

  Postern of Fate

  Don’t miss a single one of Agatha Christie’s stand-alone novels and short-story collections.

  The Man in the Brown Suit

  The Secret of Chimneys

  The Seven Dials Mystery

  The Mysterious Mr. Quin

  The Sittaford Mystery

  Parker Pyne Investigates

  Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?

  Murder Is Easy

  The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories

  And Then There Were None

  Towards Zero

  Death Comes as the End

  Sparkling Cyanide

  The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories

  Crooked House

  Three Blind Mice and Other Stories

  They Came to Baghdad

  Destination Unknown

  Ordeal by Innocence

  Double Sin and Other Stories

  The Pale Horse

  Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories

  Endless Night

  Passenger to Frankfurt

  The Golden
Ball and Other Stories

  The Mousetrap and Other Plays

  The Harlequin Tea Set

  Explore more at www.AgathaChristie.com

  See your favorite detectives come to life on screen!

  These and other DVDs and downloads available now at:

  www.acornonline.com

  AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

  An engaging chronicle of the life of an extraordinary writer, in an all-new edition that includes a CD featuring Agatha Christie’s voice and a new introduction.

  “Joyful adventure … She brings the sense of wonder … to her extraordinary career.”

  —New York Times Book Review

  Hardcover

  978-0-06-207359-4

  $29.99 ($38.99 Can.)

  Explore more at www.AgathaChristie.com

  Credits

  Author photograph © Christie Archives Trust

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  AGATHA CHRISTIE® STAR OVER BETHLEHEM™. Copyright © 1965 Agatha Christie Limited (a Chorion company). All rights reserved.

  STAR OVER BETHLEHEM © 1965. THE ROAD OF DREAMS © 1924. POEMS © 1973. Published by permission of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  For more information about educational use, teachers should visit www.HarperAcademic.com.

  FIRST HARPER PAPERBACK PUBLISHED 2011.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-0-06-207430-0

  EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2011 ISBN: 9780062122018

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