When, mar­shaled on the night­ly plain,
The glit­ter­ing hosts be­stud the sky,
One star alone of all the train
Can fix the sin­ner’s wan­der­ing eye.

Hark! hark! to God the chor­us breaks,
From ev­ery host, from ev­ery gem;
But one alone the Sav­ior speaks,
It is the Star of Beth­le­hem.

Once on the rag­ing seas I rode,
The storm was loud, the night was dark,
The ocean yawned, and rude­ly blowed
The wind that tossed my foun­der­ing bark.

Deep hor­ror then my vi­tals froze,
Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem;
When sud­den­ly a star arose,
It was the Star of Beth­le­hem.

It was my guide, my light, my all;
It bade my dark fore­bod­ings cease;
And through the storm and dan­ger’s thrall,
It led me to the port of peace.

Now safe­ly moored, my per­ils o’er
I’ll sing, first in night’s di­adem,
Forever and for­ev­er­more,
The star! The Star of Beth­le­hem!