In the bleak mid-winter
  
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 mid-winter
  
Long ago.

 Our God, heaven cannot hold Him
 Nor earth sustain,

Heaven and earth shall flee away
  
When He comes to reign:

In the bleak mid-winter
  
A stable-place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty —
  
Jesus Christ.


Enough for Him, whom cherubim
  
Worship night and day,

A breastful of milk
  
And a mangerful of hay;

Enough for Him, whom Angels
  
Fall down before,

The ox and ass and camel
  
Which adore.
Angels and Archangels
  
May have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim
  
Thronged the air;

But only His Mother
  
In her maiden bliss

Worshipped the Beloved
  
With a kiss.


What can I give Him,
  
Poor as I am?
—
If I were a Shepherd
 
 I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man
 
 I would do my part,
—
Yet what I can I give Him, —
  
Give my heart.

Christina Rossetti, (1872) “In the Bleak midwinter”

(This PhotoArt composition combines several pictures from my files.)