A Christmas Hymn

A stable-lamp is lighted

Whose glow shall wake the sky;

The stars shall bend their voices,

And every stone shall cry.

And every stone shall cry,

And straw like gold shall shine;

A barn shall harbor heaven,

A stall become a shrine.

This child through David's city

Shall ride in triumph by;

The palm shall strew its branches,

And every stone shall cry.

And every stone shall cry,

Though heavy, dull, and dumb,

And lie within the roadway

To pave His kingdom come.

Yet He shall be forsaken,

And yielded up to die;

The sky shall groan and darken,

And every stone shall cry.

And every stone shall cry

For stony hearts of men:

God's blood upon the spearhead,

God's love refused again.

But now, as at the ending,

The low is lifted high;

The stars shall bend their voices,

And every stone shall cry.

And every stone shall cry

In praises of the child

By whose descent among us

The worlds are reconciled.

-- Richard Wilbur

As with Gladness Men of Old

As with gladness men of old

Did the guiding star behold;

As with joy they hailed its light,

Leading onward, beaming bright;

So, most gracious Lord, may we

Evermore be led to Thee.

As with joyful steps they sped

To that lowly manger-bed,

There to bend the knee before

Him whom heaven and earth adore;

So may we with willing feet

Ever seek Thy mercy seat.

As they offered gifts most rare,

At that manger rude and bare,

So may we with holy joy,

Pure and free from sin's allow,

All our costliest treasures bring,

Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King.

Holy Jesus, every day

Keep us in the narrow way;

And, when earthly things are past,

Bring our ransomed souls at last

Where they need no star to guide,

Where no clouds Thy glory hide.

-- William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898)

The Nativity of Christ

Behold the father is daughter's son,

The bird that built the nest is hatched therein,

The old of years an hour hath not outrun,

Eternal life to live doth now begin,

The Word is dumb, the mirth of heaven doth weep,

Might feeble is, and force doth faintly creep.

O dying souls, behold your living spring;

O dazzled eyes, behold your sun of grace;

Dull ears, attend what word this Word doth bring;

Up, heavy hearts, with joy your joy embrace.

From death, from dark, from deafness, from despairs,

This life, this light, this Word, this joy repairs.

Gift better than Himself God doth not know;

Gift better than His God no man can see.

This gift doth here the giver given bestow;

Gift to this gift, Himself He freely gave me;

God's gift am I, and none but God shall have me.

Man altered was by sin from man to beast;

Beast's food is hay, hay is all mortal flesh.

Now God is flesh and lies in manger pressed

As hay, the brutest sinner to refresh.

O happy field wherein this fodder grew,

Whose taste doth us from beasts to men renew.