O Bethlehem!

For Christmas

Words and Music: Oi! Betleem!, Old Basque Carol

Words Translated by the Rev. J. O'Connor

Source: Richard Runciman Terry, Two Hundred Folk Carols (London: Burns Oates & Washbourne Limited, 1933), Carol #92, pp. 2-3.

1. O Bethlehem!
'Tis not the rose-bud's time to open
O Bethlehem!
O Bethlehem!
'Tis not the rose-bud's time to open
O Bethlehem!
Yet fallen petals haunt thy ways.
Deep desolation moans in Rama,
Rachael bewailing sons that are not,
Disconsolate, O Bethlehem!
Yet fallen petals haunt thy ways.
Deep desolation moans in Rama,
Rachael bewailing sons that are not,
Disconsolate, O Bethlehem!

2. O Bethlehem!
Incarnadin'd in riven roses,
O Bethlehem!
O Bethlehem!
Incarnadin'd in riven roses,
O Bethlehem!
Hadst thou no room at all for Him!
So very small was royal Juda?
Now there is room in every cradle,
And He is gone, O Bethlehem!
Hadst thou no room at all for Him!
So very small was royal Juda?
Now there is room in every cradle,
And He is gone, O Bethlehem!

3. O Bethlehem!
Most heavy is the price of glory,
O Bethlehem!
O Bethlehem!
Most heavy is the price of glory,
O Bethlehem!
God gave thee His beloved Son
And for His own hath ta'en thy darlings;
Never from Heaven's golden story
Thy name shall fade, O Bethlehem!
God gave thee His beloved Son
And for His own hath ta'en thy darlings;
Never from Heaven's golden story
Thy name shall fade, O Bethlehem!

Sheet Music from Richard Runciman Terry, Two Hundred Folk Carols (London: Burns Oates & Washbourne Limited, 1933), Carol #92, pp. 2-3.

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