To Weary Shepherds Sleeping

To wea­ry shep­herds sleep­ing

A blind­ing light ap­peared;

And from their couch­es sleep­ing

They scat­tered

all afeared;

But Ga­bri­el spake to calm them

From all that did alarm them.

With sil­ver wings and gold­en

A migh­ty host they saw;

Ne’er had their eyes be­hold­en

Such ma­jes­ty before.

Said Ga­bri­el that ev­en

I come from God in Heav­en.

And while his words they pon­der

The an­gel host around

Cried: In a man­ger yon­der

The King of kings is found!

Go shep­herds

do not tar­ry;

Your lov­ing hom­age car­ry.

In joy they turned their fac­es

To where they heard He lay

And mer­ry were their pac­es

And songs up­on the way.

And when the dawn was creep­ing

They found Him sweet­ly sleep­ing.

Their gifts they laid around Him

With shy and hum­ble word

And—hap­py to have found Him—

They lin­gered and ad­ored.

While Ga­bri­el—up­ward wing­ing—

Now peace on earth! was sing­ing.