NPR : Carols for Christmas Yet to Come

From NPR : Carols for Christmas Yet to Come. The two winners may be good for choirs, but I doubt that many ordinary people will be humming them in years to come. The titles are rather bleak:

Thomas Fielding's carol, "Behold the Dark and Bitter Night," is a setting of his own text and is scored for chorus accompanied by solo harp.

Alan Higbee's carol, "In the Bleak Midwinter" is a setting of a poem by Christina Rossetti, accompanied by solo oboe.
(RealAudio links from Minnesota Public Radio)

UPDATE--Christmas Day, 4:30 pm CST

Here are the words to Christina Rossetti's poem:

In The Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can give Him: give my heart.

The last part about 'what can I give Him'--ugh. As if we, any of us, have anything worthy, of ourselves, to give the Lord.