So help me, here are the words:
Silent Night, Holy Night!
All is calm, all is bright
round yon Virgin Mother and Child.
Holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace -
sleep in heavenly peace.
It ain't a literal translation. Here's the German:
Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht!
Alles schlaft, einsam wacht
Nur das trauten Hoch Heilige Paar,
Holder Knabe mit Löckigem Haar
Schlaf in Himmlischer Rüh!
Schlaf in Himmlischer Rüh!
And my feeble attempt to translate to English:
[Silent Night, Holy Night!
All is sleeping; alone awake [or on watch]
Are only the High Holy bridal pair;
[the] Beautiful Boy-Child with curly hair
Sleeps in heavenly peace,
sleeps in heavenly peace.]
Nothing tender and mild there, not in the cookery sense anyway. And it's nice that both Mary and Joseph made it into the original version, watching together over their sleeping babe...
and as a curly girl myself, I like the idea that Jesus had curls too
.
