December 19

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone.
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago.

In the green midwinter
We know naught of frost;
Wind bears but warm weather,
Snow and ice long-lost.
Day on day still dripping
Falls the dismal rain,
Endless teardrops slipping
Down our windowpane.

Some still tell the stories
Of the winters bright:
Sparkling world of glories
And a sea of white
Horse-drawn sleighs came jingling
By the snowflakes brushed
Faces gently tingling
And the world all hushed.

Come our brown midsummer
Heatwaves shall return
Crops shall parch and wither
Tree and grassland burn
Leaf on dead leaf rasping
In the heavy haze
As we stumble, gasping
Through the shadeless days.

...Ah, but in our dreaming
We were there one night:
'Mid the jeweled trees gleaming
All the world turned white
Into soft drifts springing
Pinpricks on our face
Out our young arms flinging
Angels' wings to trace.

Snowballs soon were flying
Snowmen quickly rolled
Forts and armies vying
Laughing in the cold
Down the hillside sliding
To the crystal stream
There on swift skates gliding --
Must it be a dream?

You who knew the Earth white,
See the world you built;
Though you stole our birthright
Yet we bear your guilt.
Wistful in our fleeting
Childhood here below --
Christ Child, hear our pleading:
Bring us back the snow.