The Cyber Hymnal ‎#1152

1152. The Day the Christ-Child's Tender Eyes

1. The day the Christ-child’s tender eyes
Unveiled their beauty on the earth,
God lit a new star in the skies
To flash the message of His birth;
And wise men read the glowing sign,
And came to greet the Child divine.

2. Low kneeling in the stable’s gloom,
Their precious treasures they unrolled;
The place was rich with sweet perfume;
Upon the floor lay gifts of gold.
And thus adoring they did bring
To Christ the earliest offering.

3. I think no nimbus wreathed the head
Of the young King so rudely throned;
The quilt of hay beneath Him spread
The sleepy kine beside Him owned;
And here and there in the torn thatch
The sky thrust in a starry patch.

4. Oh, when was new-born monarch shrined
Within such canopy as this?
The birds have cradles feather lined;
And for their new babes princesses
Have sheets of lace without a flaw,
His pillow was a wisp of straw!

5. He chose this way, it may have been,
That those poor mothers, everywhere,
Whose babies in the world’s great inn
Find scanty cradle-room and fare,
As did the Babe of Bethlehem,
May find somewhat to comfort them.

Text Information

• First Line: The day the Christ-child's tender eyes
• Title: The Day the Christ-Child's Tender Eyes
• Author: May R. Smith, 1842-1927
• Meter: 88.88.88
• Language: English
• Copyright: Public Domain

Tune Information

• Name: ST. PETERSBURG
• Composer (attributed to): Dimitri Stepanovich Bortniansky (1825)
• Meter: 88.88.88
• Incipit: 53451 21715 61653
• Key: C Major
• Copyright: Public Domain