Carol of the Skiddaw Yowes

The shepherds on the fellside

That is by Bethany,

Had not on finger

Redder blains than we:

Jesu that is God's light,

Warm us in the cold night.

The yowes that men were minding

Long and long ago,

Were not more like to die

Than ours in the snow:

Jesu that knows Thy sheep,

Skiddaw yowes tend and keep.

The angels that were singing,

Long and long agone,

Were not a whiter host

Than snowflakes falling down;

Jesu, the true fold,

Gird us on the rocks cold.