A Christmas Carol
Christina Rossetti
About the Text: Christina Rossetti (1830–94) was an English poet who, on account of her involvement in Anglo-Catholicism, wrote many devotional poems. One of these is “A Christmas Carol,” which reflects on the worship offered by all those present at the birth of Christ and on what she can offer the Christ child. The poem was popularised as a hymn composed by Gustav Holst under the title, “In the Bleak Midwinter.”
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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,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, 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.