During Our Sleep

Hark! a herald voice is calling

  Through the shadows of the night

‘Cast away the dreams of darkness

  Christ descends with heavenly light.’

Wakened by the solemn warning,

  Let the earthbound soul arise;

Christ, her sun, all sloth dispelling,

  Shines upon the morning skies.

                                                        Universalis Hymn

During our sleep, 

half spent,

the snow came--

clandestine clouds’ 

wisping crystalline 

over the deep-shadowed

settlements of Advent

night,

while You, 

still slipping

quietly

under cover the cloaks

of darkness, 

behind the powers

and principalities,

You come,

as glory

in mere matter:

Divine fire

on a bed of straw.