IN PRAISE OF
CHRISTMAS (6:06)
Традиционная английская (18
век)
All
hail to the days that merit more praise
Than all the rest of the
year,
And welcome the nights that double delights
As well for
the poor as the peer!
Good fortune attend each merry man's
friend
That doth but the best that he may,
Forgetting old
wrongs with carols and songs
To drive the cold winter away.
Tis
ill for a mind to anger inclined
To think of small injuries
now,
If wrath be to seek, do not lend her your cheek
Nor let
her inhabit thy brow.
Cross out of thy books malevolent
looks,
Both beauty and youth's decay,
And wholly consort with
mirth and sport
To drive the cold winter away.
This
time of the year is spent in good cheer
And neighbours together
do meet,
To sit by the fire, with friendly desire,
Each other
in love to greet.
Old grudges forgot are put in the pot,
All
sorrows aside they lay,
The old and the young doth carol this
song,
To drive the cold winter away.
When
Christmas's tide comes in a like a bride,
With holly and ivy
clad,
Twelve days in the year much mirth and good cheer
In
every household is had.
The country guise is then to
devise
Some gambols of Christmas play,
Whereat the young men
do the best that they can
To drive the cold winter away.
SNOW (5:35)
Музыка Лорины МакКеннит,
слова Архибальда Лампмана
White are the far-off plains, and white
The fading forests
grow;
The wind dies out along the height
And denser still the
snow,
A gathering weight on roof and tree
Falls down scarce
audibly.
The
road before me smooths and fills
Apace, and all about
The
fences dwindle, and the hills
Are blotted slowly out;
The
naked trees loom spectrally
Into the dim white sky.
The
meadows and far-sheeted streams
Lie still without a
sound;
Like some soft minister of dreams
The snow-fall hoods
me round;
In wood and water, earth and air,
A silence
everywhere.
Save
when Some farmer's sleigh, urged on,
With rustling runner and
sharp bells,
Swings by me and is gone;
Or from the empty waste
I hear
A sound remote and clear;
The
barking of a dog, or call
To cattle, sharply pealed,
Borne,
echoing from some wayside stall
Or barnyard far afield;
Then
all is silent and the snow falls
Settling soft and slow
The
evening deepens and the grey
Folds closer earth and sky
The
world seems shrouded, far away.
Its
noises sleep, and I as secret as
Yon buried stream plod dumbly on
and dream.
THE WEXFORD
CAROL (6:07)
Традиционная ирландская
Good
people all, this Christmas-time,
Consider well and bear in
mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved
Son.
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this
Christmas day;
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed
Messiah born.
The
night before that happy tide
The noble Virgin and her
guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in
the town.
But mark how all things came to pass;
From every
door repelled alas!
As long foretold, their refuge all
Was but
an humble ox's stall.
There were three wise men from afar
Directed by a glorious
star,
And on they wandered night and day
Until they came where
Jesus lay,
And when they came unto that place
Where our
beloved Messiah was,
They humbly cast them at his feet,
With
gifts of gold and incense sweet.
Near
Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding
sheep;
To whom God's angels did appear,
Which put the
shepherds in great fear.
'Prepare and go', the angles
said.
'To Bethlehem, be not afraid:
For there you'll find,
this happy morn,
A princely babe, sweet Jesus born.
With
thankful heart and joyful mind,
The shepherds went the babe to
find,
And as God's angel had foretold,
They did our saviour
Christ behold.
Within a manger he was laid,
And by his side
the virgin maid,
Attending on the Lord of life,
Who came on
earth to end all strife.
LET US THE INFANT
GREET (3:46)
Традиционная английская
Let
us the Infant greet,
In worship before Him fall,
And let us
pay Him homage meet,
On this His Festival.
Let
us to the Infant sing,
And bring Him of gifts rich store,
Let
us honour our Infant King
With praise for evermore.
Let
us to the Infant kneel,
And love him with faithful love,
And
let our joyous anthems peal,
For him who reigns above.
Glad
hymns in the Infant's laud,
Sing we to Him while we may,
In
heaven where He is throned as God,
Our service He will pay.
Be
we to the Infant true,
While we are dwelling on mould,
And He
will give us our wages due,
A crown of purest gold.
THE SEASONS (4:55)
Традиционная английская (девятнадцатый век)
Come
all you lads and lasses, I'd have you give attention
To these few
lines I'm about to write here,
'Tis of the four seasons of the
year that I shall mention,
The beauty of all things doth
appear.
And now you are young and all in your prosperity,
Come
cheer up your hearts and revive like the spring
Join off in pairs
like the birds in February
That St. Valentine's Day it forth do
bring.
Then
cometh Spring, which all the land doth nourish;
The fields are
beginning to be decked with green,
The trees put forth their buds
and the blossoms they do flourish,
And the tender blades of corn
on the earth are to be seen.
Don't you see the little lambs by
the dams a-playing?
The cuckoo is singing in the shady
grove.
The flowers they are springing, the maids they go
a-Maying,
In love all hearts seem now to move.
Next
cometh Autumn with the sun so hot and piercing;
The sportsman
goes forth with his dog and his gun
To fetch down the woodcock,
the partridge and the pheasant,
For health and for profit as well
as for fun.
Behold, with loaded apple-trees the farmer is
befriended,
They will fill up his casks that have long laid
dry.
All nature seems to weary now, her task is nearly
ended,
And more of the seasons will come by and by.
When
night comes on with song and tale we pass the wintry hours;
By
keeping up a cheerful heart we hope for better days.
We tend the
cattle, sow the seed, give work unto the ploughers,
With patience
wait till winter yields before the sun's fair rays.
And so the
world goes round and round, and every time and season
With
pleasure and with profit crowns the passage of the year,
And so
through every time of life, to him who acts with reason,
The
beauty of all things doth appear.
BALULALOW
(3:09)
Традиционная шотландская
I
come to hevin which to tell
The best nowells that e'er
befell
To you thir tythings trew I bring
And I will of them
say and sing.
This
day to you is born ane child
Of Marie meik and Virgin
mild
That bliss it bairn bening and kind
Sall you rejoyce
baith hart and mind.
Lat
us rejoyis and be blyth
And with the Hyrdis go full swyth
And
see what God of his grace hes done
Throu Christ to bring us to
his throne
My
saull and life stand up and see
Wha lyis in ane cribbe of
tree.
What Babe is that, sa gude and fair
It is Christ, God's
son and Air.
O my
deir hard, yung Jesus sweit
Prepair thy creddil in my
spreit!
And I sall rock thee in my hart
And never mair fra
thee depart.
Bot
I sall praise thee evermoir
With sangis sweit unto thy
gloir
The kneis of my hard sall I bow
And sing that rycht
Balulalow.
THE KING
(2:04)
Традиционная английская
Health, love and peace be all here in this place
By your
leave we shall sing, concerning our King.
Our
King is well-dressed in silks of the best
In ribbons so rare no
king can compare.
We
have travelled many miles over hedges and stiles,
In search of
our King unto you we bring.
We
have powder and shot to conquer the lot,
We have cannon and ball
to conquer them all.
Old
Christmas is past, twelve tide is the last
And we bid you adieu,
great joy to the new
LET ALL THAT ARE TO MIRTH
INCLINED (6:52)
Традиционнная
английская
Let
all that are to mirth inclined
Consider well and bear in
mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved
Son
For
to redeem our souls from thrall
Christ is the saviour of us all.
The
twenty-fifth day of December
We have good cause to remember
In
Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born
But
mark how all things came to pass
The inn and lodgings filled
was
That they could find no room at all
But in a straw-filled
oxes stall.
Near
Bethlehem some shepherds keep
Their flocks and herds of feeding
sheep
To whom God's angels did appear
Which put the shepherds
in great fear
With
thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went this babe to
find.
And as the heavenly angel told
They did our saviour
Christ behold.
Three eastern wise men from afar,
Directed by a glorious
star
Came boldly on and made no stay,
Until they came where
Jesus lay.
And
being come unto that place
Where the blessed Messiah was
They
humbly laid before his feet
Their gifts of gold and incense
sweet.
See
how the Lord of heaven and earth
Shewd himself lowly in his
birth;
A sweet example for mankind
To learn to bear an humble
mind.
Let
all your songs and praises be
Unto his heavenly majesty
And
evermore amongst our mirth
Remember Christ our Saviour's birth.
