Browse Carols: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z # Christmas Epithalamium I 1. Now comes the ordered prime; A maiden in her time Has given birth, Unto the holy babe Within the oxen cave To end the mercy-dearth. 2. The long pavilioned wings Of heaven-burnished things Have domed the town; Beneath them and the star, Where babe and mother are The kings kneel down. 3. False Herod's heart of stone Is heavy for his throne, Undebonaire; This is the child foretold By seers and prophets old To sit in David's Chair. 4. But on the lighted rocks, Among the startled flocks, The poor lambs bound, Thinking it sweet to hear By night and starlight clear The shrill pipes sound. 5. And all the bend of Earth, Assured by heavenly mirth, Grows calm, And to her Maker's ear Antiphonal and clear Returns the psalm. II 1. Yet in the mind of God There was a marriage odd Of Death and Life; That very night did see The planting of a tree To make them man-and-wife. 2. High on a mount it grew As sturdy as a yew, The Holy Rood, The Christmas tree to be Planted at Calvary By soldiers rude. 3. Thus God could in a breath A marriage make for Death With Life, That in the babe and tree All faithful folk might see The end of that long strife. 4. So let the earth resound As to a marriage sound Of minstrelsy, While Mary on her bed Lays the devoted head That holds all mystery. Browse Carols: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #