 | A Little Book of XXIV Carols |  |
25
CHRISTMAS COMMUNION
Come in, dear Babe, and rest!
Cold is the night and keen;
Here is no Mother with her milky breast,
Her long hair's silken screen,
To hide from Thee the stable, poor and mean.
Cold is the night and keen;
Here is no Mother with her milky breast,
Her long hair's silken screen,
To hide from Thee the stable, poor and mean.
There are no angel-folk
Hung between Heaven and earth,
Making the night a glory, and no flock
Of stars that sing for mirth
Because of the wonderful, long-looked for Birth.
Hung between Heaven and earth,
Making the night a glory, and no flock
Of stars that sing for mirth
Because of the wonderful, long-looked for Birth.
It is so dark and cold,
Colder than Bethlehem was;
Here are no sheets with lavender in fold,
Nor even the pleachèd grass.
Cold as a stone, cold is my heart, alas!
Colder than Bethlehem was;
Here are no sheets with lavender in fold,
Nor even the pleachèd grass.
Cold as a stone, cold is my heart, alas!
But two gaunt beasts are here,
Not meet for Thy delight;
Ox of my appetites misspent and drear,
Ass of my folly light,
Hanging their heads, Thy courtiers are to-night.
Not meet for Thy delight;
Ox of my appetites misspent and drear,
Ass of my folly light,
Hanging their heads, Thy courtiers are to-night.
26
Not like those innocent things
That shook the bed for Thee,
Here are no shepherd men, here are no kings
With gifts in their degree;
Cold, bare, and empty, yet wilt come to me?
That shook the bed for Thee,
Here are no shepherd men, here are no kings
With gifts in their degree;
Cold, bare, and empty, yet wilt come to me?
Cold as the clay and hard,
Yet wilt Thou come as of yore?
I who have neither gold nor spikenard,
Thou Hope as long before!
For Thee, for Thee, the stable waits once more.
Yet wilt Thou come as of yore?
I who have neither gold nor spikenard,
Thou Hope as long before!
For Thee, for Thee, the stable waits once more.
| A Little Book of XXIV Carols | |