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Deep night and a chilly fold

Lambs are bleating, ewes are cold

Shepherds shiver in the dark

Sparrow sleeping, silent lark

Before the coming dawn.

Frost is creeping through the night

Silvered by the stars' pale light;

Wolves slink silent to their kill

Under the shadow of the hill

Before the coming dawn.

Is that the day warming the sky

Gilding clouds as they drift by?

No, for the night is hardly through

And there are many hours to go

Before the coming dawn.

See, see the light is growing fast

And the shepherds stand aghast

For high above an Angel sings

Hovering on silvered wings

Before the coming dawn.

Peace he brings to men on earth

Singing of a saviour's birth

God's love to all since time begun

Now revealed in his Son

As in the coming dawn.

Then let us sing to near and far

Alleluia, alleluia

For Love has come to all today

As will the coming dawn.

But we are hungry, we are tired

Bring us out some hot mince pies;

We are thirsty, we need wine

Or we'll come back another time

Before the coming dawn.

Brian Hick September 2015

©copyright Sally Hick 14.9.26