Christ’s Birth 
By Adam Oehlenschlager 
Translated from the Danish hy Robert Hillyer 
Each year when vapours melt and wane, 
Child Jesus Christ is born again; 
The Angel in air, in grove, in sea, 
It is the Saviour, it is He . 
Wherefore all Nature, with serene 
Rejoicing, buds in hope fid green. 
Now the young stainless shepherd lads, 
Watching the stars' high myriads, 
See God's angels in fields of night 
Assemble, trembling in cool moonlight. 
“To-day a Saviour is born," they sing, 
“From gentle Mary's womb, from spring. 
“His only drink is the earliest dew, 
His eyes gaze heavenward into the blue, 
His hands reach heavenward; they are bound 
With garlands of roses to the ground. 
His cry is the breeze, in the straw he lies, 
Blue heaven mirrored in his eyes. 
“Ah shepherds, go to Bethlehem; 
Seek the cold-hearted, counsel them 
To go into the fields, and find 
The laughing Child, green grass-entwined, 
And hear his voice, and see his smile, 
That heaven may lift the earth awhile." 
The hovering angels reascend. 
To Bethlehem the shepherds wend. 
And tell their happy news, but they 
Are scorned, and mocked, and turned away 
Back to the meadows, where the sod 
Blooms with the new-born Child of God. 
