A Poem a Day for Advent: Dec. 5th

From: In the Holy Nativity of Our Lord God: A Hymn Sung as by the Shepherds

Come, we shepherds, whose blest sight
    Hath met Love's noon in nature's night;
Come, lift we up our loftier song,
And wake the sun that lies too long.

Gloomy night embraced the place
    Where the noble Infant lay:
The Babe looked up and showed his face;
    In spite of darkness, it was day:--
It was the Day, Sweet! and did rise
Not from the east, but from thine eyes.

We saw thee in thy balmy nest,
    Young dawn of our eternal day;
We saw thine eyes break from their east,
     And chase the trembling shades away;
     We saw thee, (and we bless the sight),
We saw thee by thine own sweet light.

Welcome, all wonders in one sight!
    Eternity shut in a span!
Summer in winter! Day in night!
Heaven in earth! and God in man!
Great Little One, whose all-embracing birth,
Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth.
                                                                  --Richard Crashaw, 1612-49