Sunday, December 21, 2008

We Three Kings

We Three Kings is a great Christmas carol by John Henry Hopkins, Jr. It's a pity that we only sing the first and last verses because each verse is good. I particularly like verse three because it makes verse four all the more meaningful. Here is the entire song.

Verse 1
We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar.
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Refrain

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect Light.
Born a king on Bethlehem's plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.
Verse 2
Frankincense to offer have I.
Incense owns a Deity nigh.
Prayer and praising, all men raising,
Worship Him, God most high.

Verse 3

Myrrh is mine: Its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom.
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding dying,
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.

Verse 4

Glorious now behold Him arise,
King and God and Sacrifice.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Earth to the heaven replies.

2 comments:

Michael said...

Thanks for pointing that out. I think I saw it before, but it's not something that we see often enough.

Karis said...

It is interesting that we don't sing all the verses. Thanks for sharing the others.