Rachel, Weeping For Her Children

For The Holy Innocents
Feast Day of December 28

Words: William Chatterton Dix (1837-1865)

Music: Not Stated
Meter: 87 87 87 87

Source: William Chatterton Dix, ed., A Vision of All Saints (London: John Hodges, 1871), pp. 162-163.

1. Rachel, weeping for her children,
    Flowers in early spring laid low;
None may comfort, none may cheer her,
    Faint and pallid, full of woe.
Yet the slain are girt with triumph,
    They shall swell the victor's song;
Theirs the crown with scarce a struggle,
    First-fruits of the martyr-throng.

2. Bethlehem's streets are dark with mourning,
    All is woe and wild despair;
But within the Heavenly City
    John beholds a vision fair:
Little ones with palms rejoicing
    In their happy, high estate,
Following with eager footsteps,
    Christ, the Lamb Immaculate.

3. There, in that Eternal Country,
    Men of peace have peace for aye;
There the sword is sheathed for ever,
    Foes are banished far away.
Here, Lord, mortify within us
    Vices which Thine Eye offend:
Keep us, children, pure and holy,
    Constant, faithful, to the end. Amen.

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