The Cambridge Carol Book/Sleep, baby mine, in happy case

by George Ratcliffe Woodward

XXVI. SLEEP, BABY MINE, IN HAPPY CASE

1.Sleep, baby mine, in happy case:
Thy guardian eyeth, face to face,
Our heav'nly Father ever,
To whom the darkness and the light
Co-equal are: who, day and night
Thy keeper, slumb'reth never.
Yet know, thou child in rich array,
On feather bed, that on a day
Thy Maker couch'd in straw and hay.

2.But harder was the plank, whereon
The Suff'rer mounted, woe-begone,
To save thy life from danger
Of leopard, bear, wolf, lion, snake.
Him sing I, babe, Who for our sake
Did not abhor the manger,
What time the Virgin Mother kept
The cratch, wherein her Darling slept,
Or oft, as Man of Sorrow, wept.