The carol 'In the Bleak Midwinter' is also one of my favourites, tunes by Gustav Holst or Harold Darke, and the words by Christina Rossetti. Written as a poem, it was set to music and has become one of the better known 'modern' carols. As a Pre-Raphaelite fan, it is a total joy, a word painting, that although geographically odd (midwinter in Bethlehem is neither frosty nor snowy) is so full of imagery and passion that you can forgive the stranger qualities.

Also 'It came upon a midnight clear', esp the lines 'beneath the angel strain have rolled 2000 years of wrong'. Very appropriate this year I feel... Hopefully the 'whole earth will hush their noise', and 'give back the song the angels sing'.

LTS