Poem: “Before the Paling of the Stars” by Christina Rossetti

Before the paling of the stars, before the winter morn,
Before the earliest cockcrow, 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.

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 bent and hoary,
With Saint and Angel, Ox and Ass, to hail the King of Glory.

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