As The World Lay Fast Asleep
As the world lay fast asleep,
And shepherds did their vigil keep,
The Lord God smiled as he looked down
Upon a small Judean town.There, in a cave upon a hill,
A cry went out, and time stood still.
A child was born, Jesus his name,
And things would never be the same.Laid in straw and swaddling clothes,
Not in a bed and royal robes.
An infant born in poverty:
A commoner's nativity.And so the world kept sleeping on
Until the first bright rays of dawn.
Folks shuffled on along their way,
Just like on any other day.No one strung lights on their home
Or watched a midnight Mass from Rome.
There were no gifts or mistletoe,
No "Jingle Bells" or "Ho, ho, ho!"So why, then, do we celebrate
The anniversary of that date?
Because the infant of that birth
Was Jesus Christ, the Savior of the Earth.