I’m in the midst of cooking up some Christmas Miracles for our church this upcoming Sunday and Monday, and a thought rattled up from the depths of my Nyquil addled brain. Back in school, Chad had done a choral arrangement of an poem by an unknown author, presented in a book called The Book of Jesus, by Calvin Miller. The words are almost perfect for the theme that our pastor, Doug, is preaching on this Sunday, and I wanted to rewrite a new song around it. It took some time to track them down, but here are the words. If anyone has any further information on the author, I’d appreciate any insight.
That Night
Author Unknown
That night when the Judean skies
The mystic star dispensed its light,
A blind man moved in his sleep –
And dreamed that he had sight.
That night when shepherds heard the song
Of hosts angelic choiring near,
A deaf man stiffed in slumber’s spell –
And dreamed that he could hear!
That night when the cattle stall
Slept child and mother cheek by jowl,
A cripple turned his twisted limbs –
And dreamed that he was whole.
That night when o’er the newborn Babe
The tender Mary rose to lean,
A loathsome leper smiled in sleep –
And dreamed that he was clean.
That night when to the mother’s breast
The little King was held secure,
A harlot slept a happy sleep –
And dreamed that she was pure!
That night when in the manger lay
The Sanctified who came to save,
A man moved in the sleep of death –
And dreamed there was no grave.
Some of these words don’t seem quite right. Chad? Care to edit?
That’s actually as I remember it… man that’s good.
I think you should just sing it to the tune of “I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing”.
curse you, Daniel… I did it and now I can’t get it out of my head!
This is the song we sang, right? Wasn’t Katie attached to it in some way- I remember the alto being weird…:)
I meant the alto part, not Katie the alto. Hee hee.
I think the poet is named Christina Rosetti she was an English poet in the mid 1800’s
hmm - I found this online collection of her works, and it doesn’t include this poem:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19188/19188-h/19188-h.htm
some fantastic stuff, but not that poem.
Christie,
The alto part was weird because I wrote it.
I write weird parts. Sue me. :)