RUN, shepherds, run where Bethlem blest appears,
We bring the best of news, be not dismayed,
A Saviour there is born, more old than years,
Amidst Heaven’s rolling heights this earth who stayed;
In a poor cottage inned, a virgin maid,—
There is he poorly swaddled, in manger laid,—
A weakling did him bear, who all upbears,
To whom too narrow swaddlings are our spheres:
Run, shepherds, run, and solemnize his birth,
This is that night, no,—day grown great with bliss,
In which the power of Satan broken is;
In Heaven be glory, peace unto the earth.
Thus singing through the air the angels swam,
And cope of stars re-echoéd the same.