O Little Town of Bethlehem, How Still! We See Thee Die

O little town of Bethlehem, how still! We see thee die,

Above the violent nightmare sleep, the silenced world goes by.

But where in the dark streets shine, the everlasting Light?

The hopes are dashed, the fears increased, we need your promised Might.

For Christ is born in world of pain, as someone shoots the dove,

While Christians sleep, the angels keep their bewildered watch of love.

Morning stars might once have sung, and praised the holy birth,

But now hate reigns; walls are built and bullets kill, and proves the curse of earth.

How silently, and insanely, the wondrous land is stolen,

So God imparts to occupied hearts, a courage ever bolden!

No mouth may speak against this crime, but in this world of sin,

The slightest voice raised for Justice, is accused of anti-Semitism.

Where children lost and desolate, pray to the God so wild,

Where misery cries out to Him, we are fools to think Him mild.

Where love seems dead, and hope has gone and all the faith is fear,

The dark night stays, the people pray, that God’s not far but near.

O Holy One of Bethlehem, knock down this wall we pray;

End our pain, and show your reign, in Palestine today.

For Gaza and the West Bank tell, You can do all things well,

O come to all, abide with all, and knock down that cursed wall!