I don’t have much to say today – not because this lullaby hasn’t moved me to tears, but because it has.
Shelley Jackson Denham’s gentle, lush, poignant Christmas song has gotten right through to me today. I’m rather a blubbery mess, to be honest – there is so much pain, sorrow, hardship, and exhaustion in the world, and I’m feeling the weltschmerz – the world weariness – deeply right now.
And then here is this lullaby for a child who grew up to be a man who so deeply loved the world that eventually killed him. How do you not cry at the weight of all that?
Winter night, clear and bright:
a weary world is sleeping.
And then a cry fills earth and sky:
a newborn child is weeping.(Chorus)
Hush-a-bye, lullaby,
blessed little baby.Drops of pain flow like rain:
tell why your tears are falling:
for humankind, so frail, unkind,
or for your own life’s calling?(Chorus)
Holy Child, Every Child,
your life will have its season.
And each new day your heart may pray
for grace, for peace, for reason.(Chorus)
Anyway. Even through the tears, I love this one. It’s a beautiful piece, and I am grateful to sing it today, to all that are hurting and still can love.
