Hatch # 10: The most beautiful there is...

I think I might have found the most beautiful Christmas carol there is... And through a TV-show's soundtrack none the less! Glory to the producers of 'Grey's Anatomy' for making this song a part of their impeccable soundtrack...

"It Came Upon A Midnight Clear"

It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,

from angels bending near the earth,

to touch their harps of gold:

"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men

from heaven's all gracious King!"

The world in solemn stillness lay

to hear the angels sing

Still through the cloven skies they come,

with peaceful wings unfurled;

and still their heavenly music floats

o'er all the weary world:

above it's sad and lowly plains

they bend on hovering wing,

and ever o'er its Babel sounds

the blessed angels sing

Oh ye beneath life's crushing load,

whose forms are bending low,

who toil along the climbing way

with painful steps and slow;

look now, for glad and golden hours

come swiftly on the wing;

oh rest beside the weary road

and hear the angels sing

Apart from 'Little Drummer Boy', I do believe I've aquired a new favourite - the beauty of the poetry in this song's lyric is amazing and well worth bringing to the table - especially in Norway where we pretty much worship our carols...:) There is two more verses in the song - not used in the versions I've heard - but I'll list them anyway....

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the angel-strain have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and man, at war with man, hears not
the love-song that they bring;
o hush the noise, ye men of strife,
and hear the angels sing (3rd verse)

For lo! the days are hastening on,

by prophets seen of old,

when with the ever-circling years

shall come the time foretold,

when the new heaven and earth shall own

the Prince of Peace, their King,

and the whole world send back the song

which now the angels sing (5th and final verse)

This carol was originally a poem written by the minister Edmund Hamilton Sears in 1849. The music for it was composed by Richard Storrs Willis in 1859 after he was inspired by the poem.