A Star, a Star Is Burning

A star

a star is burn­ing

The bright­est in the sky—

Is shin­ing o’er a sta­ble;

Oh

tell me

shep­herds

why?

Within I see a mo­ther

A ba­by on her knee:

Is this a roy­al pal­ace?

Can this a mon­arch be?

We bow be­fore the In­fant

To Him our hom­age bring;

Our God in flesh ap­pear­eth

Of man and an­gels king.

Then where is haugh­ty Her­od

With court mag­ni­fi­cal?

O where the priests

the Le­vites?

O where the princ­es all?

What! Lord

art Thou re­ject­ed

From low­ly vil­lage inn?

Are hearts so hard and blind­ed

By un­belief and sin?

And lo! a sud­den glo­ry!

The an­gel hosts ap­pear

Ten thou­sand times ten thou­sand

Their mon­arch to rev­ere.

The hom­age earth re­fus­es

The hon­or men with­hold

The ang­els give

at­tend­ing

In mul­ti­tudes un­told.

The lamps of Heav’n are light­ed

The sta­ble is ablaze

And harp and lute and cym­bal

Resound the In­fant’s praise.

A sta­ble now a pal­ace

The like was nev­er seen!

Such splen­dor of at­tend­ance

Such songs

such gold­en sheen!

O So­lo­mon! thy man­sion

Might not with this be told

Thy serv­ants and thy so­ldiers

Thy throne o’er­laid with gold.

Oh

blind the eyes of mor­tals

To such a glo­ri­ous sight!

Oh

sleep­ers

wake and wit­ness

The won­ders of this night!