Before the winter morn, <br />Before the earliest cock crow, <br />Jesus Christ was born: <br />Born in a stable, <br />Cradled in a manger, <br />In the world his hands had made <br />Born a stranger. <br /> <br />Priest and king lay fast asleep <br />In Jerusalem; <br />Young and old lay fast asleep <br />In crowded Bethlehem; <br />Saint and angel, ox and ass, <br />Kept a watch together <br />Before the Christmas daybreak <br />In the winter weather. <br /> <br />Jesus on his mother's breast <br />In the stable cold, <br />Spotless lamb of God was he, <br />Shepherd of the fold: <br />Let us kneel with Mary maid, <br />With Joseph bent and hoary, <br />With saint and angel, ox and ass, <br />To hail the King of Glory.<br /><br />Christina Georgina Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/before-the-paling-of-the-stars/
