My Heart Always Wanders
 |
| (Found here) |
to the place of Jesus’s birth.
There my thoughts gather,
focused in contemplation.
There my longing is fulfilled;
there my faith finds its treasure.
I can never forget you,
blessed Christmas night!
But wonder without equal,
how can it be
that the God of heaven
must lie in a stable?
That the joy and glory of heaven,
the living Word of God,
should be so despised
on this poor earth?
Why did you not pitch
a sky for your tent
and bring down the stars for light,
oh great heaven’s hero?
Why did you not bring forth
a mighty angelic retinue
to lay out fine bedding for you
so splendidly?
A sparrow has its nest
and a safe resting place;
a swallow need not ask
for night shelter and peace;
a lion knows its den,
where it will find its calm—
should, then, my God have to hide
in someone else’s stable and straw?
I would gladly spread palm branches
around your manger.
For you and you alone
I will live and die.
Come, let my soul find
the completion of its joy:
you, Lord, born anew
in the depths of my heart.
Oh come; I will open
my heart and mind
and, full of longing, sigh:
Come, Jesus, come in!
I know it’s a strange dwelling,
but you yourself have bought it,
so enter and stay,
wrapped here in my heart.
There my thoughts gather,
focused in contemplation.
There my longing is fulfilled;
there my faith finds its treasure.
I can never forget you,
blessed Christmas night!
But wonder without equal,
how can it be
that the God of heaven
must lie in a stable?
That the joy and glory of heaven,
the living Word of God,
should be so despised
on this poor earth?
Why did you not pitch
a sky for your tent
and bring down the stars for light,
oh great heaven’s hero?
Why did you not bring forth
a mighty angelic retinue
to lay out fine bedding for you
so splendidly?
A sparrow has its nest
and a safe resting place;
a swallow need not ask
for night shelter and peace;
a lion knows its den,
where it will find its calm—
should, then, my God have to hide
in someone else’s stable and straw?
I would gladly spread palm branches
around your manger.
For you and you alone
I will live and die.
Come, let my soul find
the completion of its joy:
you, Lord, born anew
in the depths of my heart.
Oh come; I will open
my heart and mind
and, full of longing, sigh:
Come, Jesus, come in!
I know it’s a strange dwelling,
but you yourself have bought it,
so enter and stay,
wrapped here in my heart.
~Original Danish Words: Hans Adolph Brorson, 1732; translated into Norwegian (translated into English by Victoria E. Jones) & Music: Swedish folk melody, adapted
.jpg)
Comments