Come, Listen to My Story

Come, listen to my story, Christus natus hodie

Author: George Ratcliffe Woodward (1902)
Tune: THE NOBLE SHIRBE
Published in 2 hymnals

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Representative Text

1. Come, listen to my story,
Christus natus hodie:
Born is the King of glory,
Rex de Virgine.
Nowell, Nowell, good news I tell,
God comes on earth a stranger:
Eya! Emmanuel
Lies cradled in a manger.

2. Came angels down, a number,
On the midnight of His birth:
Ye shepherds, wake from slumber:
Peace, goodwill on earth,
And bliss on high, the angels cry,
To you is born and given,
Eya! of maid Marie,
Th’almighty Lord of Heaven.

3. Then rode three kings together,
Over desert, hill, and dale:
Naught caring for the weather,
Sleet, and snow, and hail.
They came from far, led by a star,
With beams that never vary:
Eya! full fain they are
To see the Babe of Mary.

4. Away then banish sorrow;
Nato Regi psallite;
Sith Christ is born this morrow,
Benedicte.
With angels eke and shepherds meek,
And with yon eastern sages,
Eya! let us go seek
The newborn King of ages.

Author: George Ratcliffe Woodward

Educated at Caius College in Cambridge, England, George R. Woodward (b. Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, 1848; d. Highgate, London, England, 1934) was ordained in the Church of England in 1874. He served in six parishes in London, Norfolk, and Suffolk. He was a gifted linguist and translator of a large number of hymns from Greek, Latin, and German. But Woodward's theory of translation was a rigid one–he held that the translation ought to reproduce the meter and rhyme scheme of the original as well as its contents. This practice did not always produce singable hymns; his translations are therefore used more often today as valuable resources than as congregational hymns. With Charles Wood he published three series of The Cowley Carol Book (19… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Come, listen to my story, Christus natus hodie
Title: Come, Listen to My Story
Author: George Ratcliffe Woodward (1902)
Source: The Cowley Carol Book, 1902
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

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The Cyber Hymnal #944
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The Cyber Hymnal #944

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