Christmas Night Another aspect of Ireland in the late sixteenth century is provided by this poem by the Archbishop of Armagh, tutor to Tyrone’s sons. Not only does Irish poetry mark the change from mediaeval to Renaissance; it also marks the change from Renaissance to Baroque. This could have been by Crashaw. Welcome to us Holy Child Though the manger be your bed, Still in glory of your house Happy, happy rests your head. Child so young and yet so old, Child so tiny and so tall, To a manger that’s too wide From the skies that were too small. Motherless through all the years, Fatherless upon the earth, God before the world began, As a man you come to birth. Though your father is so old He is but one age with you, And your mother but a child, Older she, but younger too. With omnipotence that spreads To subdue the farthest spheres, Youngest, oldest, Mercy’s child, How can we understand your tears? In a swaddling cloth you lie Whom all stars in heaven obey, You who made the elements Weep yourself, new-made of clay. Virgin, your mother gave you birth, She the daughter of her son, In the blackness of her womb Light that knows no setting shone. Maker of the world made flesh, Immortal made mortality— The time has come for me to speak For God, being weak, can only cry. So silence, lips, and sense be still, Reason admit what here is done, For none shall ever understand But Godhead’s self the godhead’s son. So welcome Jesus once again! Welcome from the Virgin’s womb, Little face that shames the sun, Baby God, a welcome home. Brother, let me kiss your mouth, Master, let me kiss your hand Father, let me kiss your feet, There’s no more I can demand. Only mother of my God, Open wide the stable door, And let me as the ox may do The master of the skies adore. I’ll be his servant here below, And watch for him by night and day, And from the infant chieftain’s side Turn the herdboy’s dogs away. I’ll wash his poor and ragged clothes, And while I dry them in the sun, O Mary, if you let me I Will wrap him warmly in my own. Hugh MacCawell Source: O'Connor, Frank (tr); Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from the Irish; 1962; London; Macmillan & Co; p.89