A HOLY AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS 2024 TO ALL OUR READERS!
Little
Jesus
Ex ore infantium, Deus, et lactentium perficisti laudem (Ps 8, 3)
Little
Jesus, wast Thou shy
Once, and just so small as I ?
And what
did it feel like to be
Out of
Heaven, and just like me ?
Didst Thou
sometimes think of there,
And ask
where all the angels were ?
I should
think that I would cry
For my
house all made of sky ;
I would
look about the air,
And wonder
where my angels were ;
And at
waking 'twould distress me—
Not an
angel there to dress me !
Hadst Thou
ever any toys,
Like us
little girls and boys ?
And didst
Thou play in Heaven with all
The angels
that were not too tall,
With stars
for marbles ? Did the things
Play Can
you see me ? through their wings ?
And did Thy
Mother let Thee spoil
Thy robes,
with playing on our soil ?
How nice to
have them always new
In Heaven,
because 'twas quite clean blue !
Didst Thou
kneel at night to pray,
And didst
Thou join Thy hands, this way ?
And did
they tire sometimes, being young,
And make
the prayer seem very long ?
And dost
Thou like it best, that we
Should join
our hands to pray to Thee ?
I used to
think, before I knew,
The prayer
not said unless we do,
And did Thy
Mother at the night
Kiss Thee,
and fold the clothes in right ?
And didst
Thou feel quite good in bed,
Kissed, and
sweet, and Thy prayers said ?
Thou canst
not have forgotten all
That it
feels like to be small :
And Thou
know'st I cannot pray
To Thee in
my father's way—
When Thou
wast so little, say,
Couldst
Thou talk Thy Father's way ?—
So, a
little Child, come down
And hear a
child's tongue like Thy own ;
Take me by
the hand and walk,
And listen
to my baby-talk.
To Thy
Father show my prayer
(He will
look, Thou art so fair),
And say :
"O Father, I, Thy Son,
Bring the
prayer of a little one.”
And He will
smile, that children's tongue
Has not
changed since Thou wast young !
— Francis Thompson (1859–1907)
'Balulalow' from a 'Ceremony of Carols' by the great Benjamin Britten: a Lullaby for the Baby Jesus in Old English .
