Run, Shepherds, Run!

Run, Shepherds, run! Run, Shepherds,run to Bethlehem.
Run, Shepherds, run where Bethlem blest appears,
We bring the best of news, be not dismayed:
A Saviour there is born, more old than years
Amidst Heaven's rolling heights this earth who stayed;
In a poor cottage inned, a Virgin Maid,
A weakling did Him bear, who all upbears,
There is He poorly swaddled, in a manger laid
To whom too narrow swaddlings are our spheres:
Run, Shepherds, run, and solemnize His birth.
This is that night -- no, day grown great with bliss,
In which the power of Satan broken is;
In Heaven be glory, peace unto the Earth,
Thus singing through the air the angels swam,
A cope of stars re-echoed the same.

Run, Shepherds, run, run to Bethlehem.

William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585-1649)