Scripture Verse

When they were come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts: gold, and frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11

Introduction

portrait
Mary R. Smith
1842–1927

Words: May R. Smith (1842–1927).

Music: St. Pe­ters­burg at­trib­ut­ed to Dmi­tri S. Bort­ni­an­sky, 1825 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know when this hymn was writ­ten, or where to get a good pho­to of Smith (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Dmitri S. Bortniansky (1752–1825)

Lyrics

The day the Christ child’s ten­der eyes
Unveiled their beau­ty on the earth,
God lit a new star in the skies
To flash the mes­sage of His birth;
And wise men read the glow­ing sign,
And came to greet the Child di­vine.

Low kneel­ing in the sta­ble’s gloom,
Their pre­cious trea­sures they un­rolled;
The place was rich with sweet per­fume;
Upon the floor lay gifts of gold.
And thus ad­or­ing they did bring
To Christ the ear­li­est of­fer­ing.

I think no nim­bus wreathed the head
Of the young King so rude­ly throned;
The quilt of hay be­neath Him spread
The sleepy kine be­side Him owned;
And here and there in the torn thatch
The sky thrust in a star­ry patch.

Oh, when was new-born mo­narch shrined
Within such ca­no­py as this?
The birds have cra­dles fea­ther lined;
And for their new ba­bes prin­cess­es
Have sheets of lace with­out a flaw,
His pil­low was a wisp of straw!

He chose this way, it may have been,
That those poor mo­thers, ev­ery­where,
Whose ba­bies in the world’s great inn
Find scan­ty cra­dle-room and fare,
As did the Babe of Beth­le­hem,
May find some­what to com­fort them.