From Ottfried's Paraphrase of the Gospel With her arms, and to her breast, In the darkness and the night For us she bore the heavenly Lord. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE 64. THE VIRGIN'S CRADLE HYMN Copied from a print of the Virgin in a Catholic village in Germany. D ORMI, Jesu! mater ridet Quae tam dulcem somnum videt, Dormi, Jesu! blandule! Si non dormis, mater plorat, Inter fila cantans orat, Blande, veni, somnule. Sleep, sweet babe! my cares beguiling : · SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE 65. BRIGHTEST AND BEST OF THE SONS OF THE MORNING! RIGHTEST and best of the sons of the morning! Dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid! Star of the East, the horizon adorning, Guide where our Infant Redeemer is laid! Cold on His cradle the dew-drops are shining; Maker and Monarch and Saviour of all. Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion, Vainly we offer each ample oblation; Vainly with gifts would His favour secure ; Richer by far is the heart's adoration; Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor. Brightest and best of the sons of the morning! Guide where our Infant Redeemer is laid! REGINALD HEBER 66. THEY LEAVE THE LAND OF GEMS AND GOLD HEY leave the land of gems and gold, TH The shining portals of the East; For Him, the woman's Seed foretold, To earth their sceptres they have cast, O happy eyes that saw Him first; True kings are those who thus forsake Serpent, her foot is on thy neck; Herod, thou writhest, but canst not sting. He, He is King, and He alone Who lifts that infant hand to bless; Who makes His mother's knee His throne, AUBREY DE VERE 67. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR BELLS I HE time draws near the birth of Christ : TH The moon is hid; the night is still; The Christmas bells from hill to hill Answer each other in the mist. Four voices of four hamlets round, From far and near, on mead and moor, Were shut between me and the sound: Each voice four changes on the wind, That now dilate, and now decrease, Peace and goodwill, to all mankind. But they my troubled spirit rule, For they controll'd me when a boy; The merry, merry bells of Yule. 2 Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, Christmas and New Year Bells Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring out the grief that saps the mind, Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; With sweeter manners, purer laws. But ring the fuller minstrel in. Ring out false pride in place and blood, Ring in the common love of good. Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; The larger heart, the kindlier hand; ALFRED TENNYSON (from In Memoriam) |