Child of the stable's secret birth Words: Timothy Dudley-Smith Music: Thomas Hewitt Jones Child of the stable's secret birth, The Lord by right of the lords of earth, Let angels sing of a King new-born The world is weaving a crown of thorn: A crown of thorn for that infant head Cradled soft in the manger bed. Eyes that shine in the lantern's ray; A face so small in its nest of hay Face of a Child who is born to scan The world of men through the eyes of man: And from that face in the final day Earth and heaven shall flee away. Voice that rang through the courts on high Contracted now to a wordless cry, A voice to master the wind and wave, The human heart and the hungry grave: The voice of God through the cedar trees Rolling forth as the sound of seas. Child of the stable's secret birth, The Father's gift to a wayward earth, To drain the cup in a few short years Of all our sorrows, our sins and tears - Ours the prize for the road he trod: Risen with Christ; at peace with God.