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In the Bleak Midwinter

[Christina Rossetti / Gustav Holst (1872), arr. Steeleye Span]

Christina Rossetti wrote the poignant words for this well known song in response to a request from the magazine Scribner's Monthly for a Christmas poem. The tune is by Gustav Holst. Maddy Prior sang this on Steeleye Span's CD Winter but left out the third verse like many hymn books who censor the “breastful of milk”.

Lyrics

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain.
Heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for him, whom cherubim worship night and day,
A breastful of milk and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for him whom angels fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air.
But only his mother, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb.
If I were a Wise Man I would do my part.
Yet what I can I give him: give my heart.