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It came upon the midnight clear |
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That glorious song of old |
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From angels bending near the earth |
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With news of joy foretold |
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"Peace on the earth, good will to men |
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From heaven's all gracious King |
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The world in solemn stillness lay |
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To hear the angels sing |
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Still through the cloven skies they come |
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With peaceful wings unfurled |
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And still their heavenly music floats |
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Over all the weary world |
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Above its sad and lowly plains |
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Old echoes plaintive ring |
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And ever over its Babel sounds |
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The blessed angels sing |
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Yet with the woes of sin and strife |
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The world hath suffered long |
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Beneath the angel-strain have rolled |
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Two thousand years of wrong |
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And man, at war with man, hears not |
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The love song which they bring |
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O hush the noise, ye men of strife |
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And hear the angels sing |
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O ye, beneath life's crushing load |
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Whose forms are bending low |
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Who toil along the climbing way |
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With painful steps and slow |
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Look now! for glad and golden hours |
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Come swiftly on the wing |
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O rest beside the weary road |
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And hear the angels sing |
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For lo! the days are hastening on |
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By prophet bards foretold |
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When, with the ever-circling years |
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Shall come the Age of Gold |
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When peace shall over all the earth |
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Its ancient splendors fling |
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And all the world give back the song |
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Which now the angels sing |
