A virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel.
Matthew 1:23
Words: Frederick G. Lee, in Carols Old and Carols New, by Charles L. Hutchins (Boston, Massachusetts: Parish Choir, 1916), number 10.
Music: Borrow William H. Borrow, in Carols Old and Carols New, by Charles L. Hutchins (Boston, Massachusetts: Parish Choir, 1916), number 10 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of Borrow or Lee (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Slowly fall the snowflakes,
Clothing earth in white,
Sweetly bells are chiming,
On this Christmas night;
Dark the earth aforetime,
White on Christmas morn;
Christ the curse reversing—
Mary’s Son is born.
Slowly fall the snowflakes,
Virgin-white the sod,
In the chill descending,
Like the grace of God;
Wild the varied chimings,
One tale only tell—
Lies in Bethlehem’s manger
Great Emmanuel.
Slowly fall the snowflakes,
Hang the holly high,
Bright its berries greeting
God Incarnate nigh;
Dark the earth no longer,
Barren nevermore,
Grace-flowers spring to blossom
On th’eternal shore.