Tormented Galilean who art Lord

Of those that crucify thee every day

And every hour and minute of the day

And every hour and minute of the night:

With pious glee they celebrate the night

That witnessed thine appearance upon earth,

That night when angels chanted “peace on earth.”

They chanted “Peace on earth, good will to men,”

And thou wert crowned with thorns by hands of men

And thou wert spat upon by mouths of men

And thou hast been betrayed by kiss of men;

Condemned by men and crucified by men,

Aye, crucified and deified by men.

And every year for many centuries,

On Christmas eve for many centuries,

In churches and cathedrals Christians sing

Their gladness of the coming of the Lord.

The organ’s thunder glorifies the Lord,

The priests and ministers exalt the Lord,

The infant Lord the virgin Mary bore;

On Christmas eve it was in Bethlehem:

And whilst they fete the babe of Bethlehem,

Ten thousand babes on earth die painful deaths

And millions live to live lives worse than death

And still the massacre of innocents

Goes on relentlessly. Poor innocents!