Hymn for the Nativity - Notker Balbulus

Before the ages and the stars of morn
The ever-living Son of God was born;
Whom, as their Maker, heaven and earth adore,
And the wide ocean sings from shore to shore,

Through him the changing day sinks into night,
And rises mid the joys of morning light;
His glory evermore the angels sing,
Sounding his praises as their Lord and King.

The fragile flesh of man doth he assume,
All stainless from the stainless Mary's womb,
That Virgin mother, who alone on earth
Free from the primal curse had spotless birth.

Lo! Christ is come, and brings the living day,
Driving the shadows of the world away;
The star of Bethlehem shines; its glory brings
Earth's rulers to adore the King of Kings.

And simple shepherds o'er the hills behold
The choiring angels, with their harps of gold;
The swelling music sweetens all the earth
And wakens gladness in the glorious Birth.

Rejoice, O Mother of the deathless King,
Beside whose birth-bed heavenly angels sing!
And thou, sweet Christ, who for our sake art come
Lift us and guide us to our heavenly home.

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Notker Balbulus (840 - 912) Switzerland
Translated by Daniel Joseph Donahoe
Source: Early Christian hymns, Series II: translations of the verses of the early and middle ages
by Daniel Joseph Donahoe,  Donahoe pub. co, 1911