Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

396 Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

1 Infant holy, infant lowly,
   for His bed a cattle stall;
   oxen lowing, little knowing
   Christ, the babe, is Lord of all.
   Swift are winging angels singing,
   noels ringing, tidings bringing:
   Christ the babe is Lord of all!

2 Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping
   vigil till the morning new
   saw the glory, heard the story,
   tidings of the gospel true.
   Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow,
   praises voicing, greet the morrow:
   Christ the babe was born for you.
                         Polish carol
                         Trans. by Edith M. G. Reed
                         The Methodist Hymnal, 1964 edition

<idle musing>
This little carol only occurs in about 100 hymnals. We know nothing about the translator, except that it was done in 1921. Hymnary.org credits the hymn to a Piotrowi Skardze, about we also know nothing. Kind of fitting, isn't it, that this hymn about "little knowing" and a lowly infant has an author and translator about which we are "little knowing."
</idle musing>