With the huddled flocks upstarting, wondering if they hear aright,

While the Kings come riding, riding, solemn shadows in the night.

Oh, the Shepherds in Judea,

They are thinking, as they go,

Of the light that broke their watching

On the hillside in the snow!—

Scattered snow along the hillside, white as springtime fleeces are,

With the whiter wings above them and the glory-streaming star—

Guiding-star across the housetops; never fear the Shepherds felt

Till they found the Babe in manger where the kindly cattle knelt.