It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ~Luke 2:8-9

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

words by Edmund Sears

It came upon the midnight clear, 

That glorious song of old, 

From angels bending near the earth, 

To touch their harps of gold; 

“Peace on the earth, good will to men, 

From Heaven’s all gracious King.” 

The world in solemn stillness lay, 

To hear the angels sing. 

Still through the cloven skies they come 

With peaceful wings unfurled, 

And still their heavenly music floats 

O’er all the weary world; 

Above its sad and lowly plains, 

They bend on hovering wing, 

And ever over its Babel sounds 

The blessèd angels sing. 

Yet with the woes of sin and strife 

The world has suffered long; 

Beneath the angel strain have rolled 

Two thousand years of wrong; 

And man, at war with man, hears not 

The love-song which they bring; 

O hush the noise, ye men of strife 

And hear the angels sing. 

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, 

Whose forms are bending low, 

Who toil along the climbing way 

With painful steps and slow, 

Look now! for glad and golden hours 

Come swiftly on the wing. 

O rest beside the weary road, 

And hear the angels sing! 

For lo! the days are hastening on, 

By prophet-bards foretold, 

When with the ever circling years 

Comes round the age of gold; 

When peace shall over all the earth 

Its ancient splendors fling, 

And the whole world send back the song 

Which now the angels sing.