It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Music: Richard S. Willis, (1819-1900), "Carol." 
Words: Edmund Hamilton Sears, (1810-1876).

4/4 time - slowly.

6   8   -7 -8  7 -6  6   -6     6
It came up -o -n the mid-night clear

6    -6  -7  7  7  -8 8  -8
that glo-ri-ous so-ng of old.

6    8  -7  -8  7  -6   6   -6   6
From an-gels be-nd-ing near the earth

6   -6    -6   -7  -6  6  7
to touch their ha-rps of gold:

8     8   5  5  -5    6   -6   -7  7
Peace on the ea-rth, good-will to men,

8    -8   7   -7  -6  -7 -6   6
from hea-vens all grac-i-ous King.

6     8   -7 -8  7 -6  6    -6    6
The world in sol-e-mn still-ness lay

6  -6   -6  -7 -6  6   7
to hear the an-gel-ls sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever over its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send