Long one of my favorite carols, one that I recorded on my Christmas project, and with a verse that’s one of my “this is where the story gets real to Calbert” moments, In the Bleak Midwinter is the story made real in my heart.

And if you’ve never heard James Taylor’s exquisite version, you’ve not heard the song. Just sayin’.

Anyway, the verses are not in the official order, but in the order from Calbert’s heart. My blog, my rules. It is good to be The Calbert…

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago.

Enough for him, whom Cherubim
Worship night and day
A breast full of milk
And a manger full of hay.
Enough for him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But his mother only,
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him —
Give my heart.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When he comes to reign;
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God incarnate,
Jesus Christ.
– H. Darke