I’ve never spent Christmas in New York, but Garrison Keillor has. Of course, he’s by no means everyone’s ideal guide to the Christmas spirit…but I think he’s on to something nonetheless.<\/p>\n
This is from his Christmas program a few years back. He wrote the words, Musica Sacra<\/a> performed the piece. Between their powerfully spiritual, ethereal sound, and his homely, deceptively simplistic lyrics, something deeply truthful emerged, something that perhaps only a pious liberal in a busy commercial city could have caught just so:<\/p>\n In the bleak midwinter \/ all around the park In the caf\u00c3\u00a9 window \/ little candles glow Over by the church door \/ twenty feet away Where can we find it \/ Christmas love and cheer?
\nTall apartment buildings \/ blazing in the dark
\nStanding here on Broadway \/ and West 64th
\nWatching for a taxi: \/ who is heading north?<\/p>\n
\nWhere we met for dinner \/ long, long ago
\nIn the bleak midwinter \/ happy times recall
\nLoved ones smiling, laughing \/ blessed memories all<\/p>\n
\nA figure wrapped in blankets \/ lying in the hay
\nWho is this stranger \/ sleeping in cardboard?
\nSo says the gospel<\/a> \/ it is Christ the Lord<\/p>\n
\nWhere are the shepherds \/ standing, waiting near?
\nWho is the choir? \/ Shall we sing our part?
\nHear the Christmas music \/ in you heart.<\/p>\n