I yearn not after fame or might,
I seek nor gold nor jewel.
I ask for heaven’s fairer light,
God’s peace on earth to rule.
Bring Christmas that makes sad hearts sing
And points our minds to God our King.
I seek not fame nor might nor jewel,
But peace on earth to rule.
Give peace unto our home I pray,
A cheerful Christmas tree,
And Thine own Word’s bright light to say
How we may come to Thee.
Bring to our humble home this night
The Christmas spirit’s sweet delight,
God’s Word to light our souls to heav’n,
And Thine own love within.
To rich and poor alike this night
O come thou, Christmas, come!
And shine our Father’s heav’nly light
On earth’s sin-darkened gloom.
I yearn for thee, I wait for thee,
Thou Lord of heav’n and earth and sea.
To rich and poor alike this night
Give Christmas’ holy light.
Jeremy Brown.
This is an adaptation of a Christmas hymn in Swedish (“Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt” by Zacharias Topelius) and Finnish (“En etsi valtaa, loistoa” by Jean Sibelius). I heard it first in Finnish on the CD “Carols: from the Old & New Worlds: Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier, Director”, and I found it also written in a Swedish Christmas book.
I wrote another (I think better) adaptation, which tried to match the line-internal rhyme scheme of the Finnish hymn, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. So the poem shown here is my original adaptation.
You can hear it beautifully sung in Finnish here on Youtube.
