A frosty Christmas Eve, when the stars were shining
Fared I forth alone where westward falls the hill
And from many, many a village in the dark valley below
Distant music reached me; peals of bells were ringing

Then sped my thoughts to olden times, to that first of Christmases
When shepherds, who were watching, heard music in the fields
And they stood there and they marveled, and they knew they could not tell
Whether it were angels or the bright stars singing

To me heard afar, it was the same starry music
The singing of the angels, the ringing of the bells
Words of old came back to me across the richness of time
And I softly listened as I stood upon the hill