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The United Methodist Hymnal · No. 221 · Words: Christina G. Rossetti · Tune: CRANHAM
In the Bleak Midwinter
Create PowerPoint slides from this hymn →A beloved Christmas poem by Christina G. Rossetti (1872), portraying the nativity through vivid imagery of a bleak winter landscape. Later set to music by Gustav Holst in 1906 as the tune CRANHAM.
Verse 1
In the bleak midwinter,
frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron,
water like a stone;
snow had fallen,
snow on snow,
snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter
long ago.
Verse 2
Our God, heaven
cannot hold him,
nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth
shall flee away
when he comes to reign.
In the bleak
midwinter
a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.
Verse 3
Angels and archangels
may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim
thronged the air;
but his mother only,
in her maiden bliss,
worshiped the beloved
with a kiss.
Verse 4
What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb;
if I were a Wise Man,
I would do my part;
yet what I can
I give him:
give my heart.
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