WEXFORD CAROL

1. Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done,
In sending his beloved Son.
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas Day;
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born.

2. Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep;
To whom God’s angels did appear,
Which put the shepherds in great fear.
‘Prepare and go’, the angels said,
‘To Bethlehem, be not afraid;
For there you’ll find, this happy morn,
A princely babe, sweet Jesus born,’

3. With thankful heart and joyful mind,
The shepherds went the babe to find,
And as God’s angel had foretold,
They did our Saviour Christ behond.
Within a manger he was laid,
And by his side the virgin maid,
Attending on the Lord of life,
Who came on earth to end all strife.

12th century English and Irish traditional
Source: “The Oxford Book of Carols”
Ed. Dearmer, Vaighan Williams, Shaw