In the Bleak Midwinter

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For the film of the same name, see its alternative title: A Midwinter's Tale.

"In the Bleak Midwinter" is a Christmas carol.

Although written by Christina Georgina Rossetti before 1872, it was published posthumously in Rossetti's Poetic Works in 1904 and appeared in The English Hymnal in 1906.

According to the website CyberHymnal, she wrote these words in response to a request from the magazine Scribner’s Monthly for a Christmas poem.

In verse one, Rossetti describes the physical characteristics of the Incarnation.

In the bleak midwinter

Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone:

Snow had fallen,

Snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter,

Long ago.

In verse two, Rossetti contrasts Christ's first and second coming.

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.

Verse three contrasts the grandeur of Christ's heavenly home with the simplicity of a mother's love.

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.

In the Harold Darke musical setting, this third verse appears instead:

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.

The final verse may be the most well known and loved.

What can I give him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd,

I would bring a lamb;

If I were a wiseman,

I would do my part;

Yet what can I give him-

Give my heart.

The text of this Christmas hymn has been set to music by at least three well-known composers: Gustav Holst, Harold Edwin Darke, and Thomas B. Strong.