Christ-Mass: In Aurora

You are the
    new day.
Meekness,
    love,
    humility,
Come down
    to us
    this day:
Christ, your
    birth has
    proved to me
You are the
    new day.

Quiet in a stall you lie,
Angels watching in the sky
Whisper to you from on high:
“You are the new day.”

When our life is darkest night,
Hope has burned away,
Love, your ray of guiding light,
Show us the new day.

Love of all things great and small,
Leaving none, embracing all,
Fold around me where I fall,
Bring in the new day.

This new day will be a turning point
For every one,
If we let the Christ-child in,
And reach for the new day.

Christ the Way, the Truth, the Life,
Healing sadness, ending strife,
You we welcome, Lord of Life.
Born on a new day,
You are the new day.

+    +    +

The text of this great choral piece is an adaption by King's Singers member Philip Lawson, of the original YOU ARE THE NEW DAY by John David (a Cardiff-born songwriter, record producer and instrumentalist). Lawson thereby transformed it into a Christmas carol. John David wrote both melody and the original text. Peter Knight made the arrangement for King's Singers. For Cambridge Singers, the arrangement was slightly adapted for mixed voices and strings.

As this is published, we're hitchin' up the wagons for the trek to Ohio, to return five days later. Here's hoping for good weather through the West Virginia mountains today; it should take nine hours, eight and a half with a good tail wind. On behalf of the staff and management of man with black hat (or, to put it another way, the voices in my head that tell me what to do), and all of us here at Chez Alexandre, we wish you a most blessed Christ-Mass holyday, and a most joyful and prosperous New Year.

“Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon!” Yeah, you right!