Christ's Nativity1
Words: Henry
Vaughan (1622-1695), Silex Scintillans: or Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations.
(1650), pp. 61-63.
Compare:
Awake, Glad Heart! Get Up and Sing! (Vaughan)
The King's
Birthday (Terry)
Source: Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), pp. 215-6.
1. Awake, glad heart! get up and sing!
It is the birthday of thy King.
Awake! Awake!
Light from his locks, and all the way
Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day.
2. Awake! awake! hark how th' wood rings,
Winds whisper, and the busy springs
A concert make.
Awake! Awake!
Man is their high priest, and should rise
To offer up the sacrifice.
3. I would I were some bird, or star,
Fluttering in woods, or lifted far
Above this inn
And road of sin;
Then either star or bird should be
Shining or singing still to Thee.
4. I would I had in my best part
Fit rooms for Thee! or that my heart
Were so clean as
Thy manger was!
But I am all filth, and obscene;
Yet, if Thou wilt, Thou can'st make me clean.
5. Sweet Jesu! and then. Let no more
This leper haunt and soil Thy door!
Cure him, ease him,
O release him!
And let once more, by mystic birth,
The Lord of life be born on earth.
Also found in A. H. Bullen, A Christmas Garland (London: John C. Nimmo, 1885), pp. 109-10.
This is part one of a longer poem, in two parts. See: Vaughan, Awake, Glad Heart! Get Up and Sing! Part Two begins "How kind is heav'n to man !"
This poem was published in Part I of Silex Scintillans: or Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (1650). Part I of Silex Scintillans was published in 1650; Part II was published in 1655, together with Part I.
Vaughan was known as “The Silurist.” The name "Silurist" refers to the Silures, a Celtic tribe of pre-Roman south Wales that strongly resisted the Romans according to the Wikipedia article, Henry Vaughan (Wikipedia contributors. "Henry Vaughan." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 24 Mar. 2018. Web. 15 Apr. 2018.).
Sheet Music from Richard R. Terry, Twelve Christmas Carols (London: J. Curwen & Sons, Ltd., 1912), p. 10.
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