English poem
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear.
by Hezekiah Butterworth (1839–1905)
Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears, author of this beautiful hymn-poem, was born at Sandisfield, Berkshire Co., Mass., April 6, 1810, and educated at Union College and Harvard University. He became pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Mass., 1838. Died in the adjoining town of Weston, Jan. 14, 1876. The hymn first appeared in the Christian Register in 1857.
It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth To touch their harps of gold.
"Peace to the earth, good will to men From Heaven's all-gracious King." The world in solemn stillness lay, To hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come With peaceful wings unfurled And still their heavenly music floats O'er all the weary world.
Above its sad and lonely plains They bend on hovering wing, And ever o'er its Babel sounds The blessed angels sing.