O Holy Night

O Holy Night
The stars are brightly shining
Orange, blue, pink, lime
Mariam and Yeshu
With all the angels adoring,
Radiant beams from thy holy face

The cattle are lowing
The poor baby wakes
What Child is this, who, laid to rest
Outside our gate is screaming

Plastic roasting on an open fire—and glass and paper and more plastic
Mosquitoes nipping at your nose

What grandmother is this, who, dropped and left
Inside our walls is seeking
The hopes and fears of all her years
To be met in someone
Anyone
O come, o come Emmanuel!

O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
How wide and green your branches
How tall and bare your trunk is
You never change the whole year round
With coconuts you hit the ground
Nature’s purest water
Wassail!

What grandfather is this
Who mourns in lonely exile here
Until a son or daughter or wife or grandchild or friend or acquaintance or stranger or human
Appear
God rest ye, merry gentlemen
Sleep in heavenly peace

On a hot winter’s night that is so deep
A night not silent, a night not calm
No cribs for beds
The children can’t sleep
No cribs for beds
The aged, they weep


Yet in these dark streets shineth the everlasting light
They come and behold him
Joyful
And triumphant

O come all ye faithful!

For on the first noel
It was to those certain poor that the angels did say
Born is the king

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel has come to thee

This, this is Christ the king
Who runs around joyfully with his brothers, barefoot on the hard dirt and cow dung
Who talks to herself and to God and is shunned for it
Who is rejected from his hometown
Who has no father but her God above
Who smiles with crooked teeth for the sake of others even amidst great suffering
Who has no possessions but a walking stick
Who loves the children
Who welcomes the foreigner
Who is persecuted by unjust economic systems
Who lights up the world with her infant smile who grabs you by the hand and leads you to the unknown who calls you a member of his family when there is no blood relation who trusts and accepts you no matter what your race gender class or creed who weeps at the death of a friend who is hungry and needs food who is thirsty and needs drink who is naked and needs clothing
The babe, the son of Mary

O Night Divine!