O Little Town of Bethlehem
"O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a Christmas carol. Based on an 1868 text written by Phillips Brooks, the carol is popular on both sides of the Atlantic, but to different tunes: in the United States, to "St. Louis" by Brooks' collaborator, Lewis Redner; and in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland to "Forest Green", a tune collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and first published in the 1906 English Hymnal.
Lyrics
1. O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see you lie!Above your deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by:
yet in your dark streets shining is everlasting light;
the hopes and fears of all the years are met in you tonight.
2. O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth,
and praises sing to God the King, and peace to all the earth.
For Christ is born of Mary; and, gathered all above,
while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.
3. How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven:
no ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive him - still the dear Christ enters in.
4. O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today!
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell -
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel.