Silent Night, Holy Night

                                                 First Day within the Octave of Christmas

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth "

Christmas Carol

Back in the barn late Christmas night.

I have come back
bearing gifts of apples and carrots.
I have come back
beneath the stars' glint of rounded heaven
over this shelter from our cold descending; 
this straw strewn like knolls of summer
huddled in darkness
sparkling;
this frost
of solitude
lingering
in a quietude of awe,
of this holy night.

The smell of horses and stalls and the mundane
brightening the silences stooping
like shepherds
in a dusty light
around God,
the Word,
gathering flesh supine in a feed trough,
lifting us up,
cradling our transfiguring
into the divine
and blazing night
of Him.