Before the paling of the stars,
Before the winter morn,
Before the earliest cock crow,
Jesus Christ was born:
Born in a stable,
Cradled in a manger,
In the world his hands had made
Born a stranger.
Before the winter morn,
Before the earliest cock crow,
Jesus Christ was born:
Born in a stable,
Cradled in a manger,
In the world his hands had made
Born a stranger.
Priest and king lay fast asleep
In Jerusalem;
Young and old lay fast asleep
In crowded Bethlehem;
Saint and angel, ox and ass,
Kept a watch together
Before the Christmas daybreak
In the winter weather.
In Jerusalem;
Young and old lay fast asleep
In crowded Bethlehem;
Saint and angel, ox and ass,
Kept a watch together
Before the Christmas daybreak
In the winter weather.
Jesus on his mother’s breast
In the stable cold,
Spotless lamb of God was He,
Shepherd of the fold:
Let us kneel with Mary maid,
With Joseph laudatory*,
With saint and angel, ox and ass,
To hail the King of Glory.
--Christina Rosetti, 1912
In the stable cold,
Spotless lamb of God was He,
Shepherd of the fold:
Let us kneel with Mary maid,
With Joseph laudatory*,
With saint and angel, ox and ass,
To hail the King of Glory.
--Christina Rosetti, 1912
*In the original poem, "bent and hoary", with the idea that Joseph was older, and this was his second marriage, coming out of the extra-Biblical idea that Mary was always a Virgin and never had biological children. Christians who hold this view, namely Roman Catholics and some Anglicans, interpret New Testament references of Jesus' brothers and sisters as being half-sisters from a possible 1st marriage of Joseph. There is no actual Biblical data to support this. Rosetti was a "High Church Anglican"
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7 comments:
I enjoy Christina's poetry but you sometimes have to make allowances. Of course, there's no stable or ox or ass in the Bible either!
Hi, David.
Yes, the oxen and ass are part of the fictional elements woven into the Christmas story. They've been showing up since at least medieval times, long before Christina! There's even the 13th century French carol, commonly translated as "Here Betwixt Ass and Oxen Mild." And, of course, all the Nativity sets (creches originally being from France) with a donkey and an ox. Maybe the French had an animal thing going first? And all the pictures of Mary riding a donkey into Bethlehem, and all the stories & art woven around that. Maybe they were so poor she had to walk the whole way? Way back, women had certain robust elements built into their pregnancies.
We do know about the beasts of burden on Palm Sunday, for sure. Since Jesus rode an "unbroken colt, the foal of a donkey", He was showing His power over Nature in that case. Nature always bent to His hew. (People aren't forced, so they often did not. In fact, if you carefully parse the Greek working in John chapter 1, it says "He came unto His own things, but His own people received Him not." It's the different use of a neuter and masculine pronoun there.)
I really don't like all the interpretations of older Joseph, so I definitely changed that one.
Anyway, have a "Happy Christmas." Is that how they also say it in Scotland, as they do in England. You may have heard that we generally say "Merry Christmas." Isn't it funny that, with all our modernity, we use the old school expression over here in America? At any rate, hope your season is blessed.
Hello,
have a lovely time celebrating our beautiful Saviour Jesus' birth. He is here with us forever now. God bless.
Nice poem.
Thanks for visiting, Brenda. Glad you found this page! I post ~ once/month, usually near the 1st.
Have a blessed season. We Lutherans continue it up until the 6th of January, when we celebrate the coming of the Wise Men. January 5th is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, so we have time.
If you're interested, I have a free verse Christmas poem of my own called "The Word" in a previous year. You can click the link with my name; the Christmas, Advent or Epiphany links; or I even think the Ancient Wisdom link will take you there. Tho it's free verse, it does use word play.
Whether it's happy or merry Christmas has been a little conversation point! Plenty use of "Merry Christmas!"; some people just say, "Have a good Christmas!".
Very cool. Expressions change over time.
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