Through the night of mean expectation
Shepherds watch heaven’s dreaming eyes,
Faintly cries the first fruits of creation,
And the Word explodes the sky.

From the dark in fear of knowing
the light of Love freely bleeds,
A mother’s arms gently holding
A simple faith’s most precious seed.

In the shadows despis’d and forgotten
Find a stable rude and spare
Where wrapp’d in weakness the Only Begotten
Takes a sinning world’s honest share.