The babe, the burning babe.
What does the baby have other
than the mother?
What does the baby have other
than the mother?
The babe in arms, the burning babe.
A baby never comes
without its mother.
A baby never comes
without its mother.
But there’s no mother
in “The Burning Babe”—
Surprised I was with sudden heat,
in “The Burning Babe”—
Surprised I was with sudden heat,
Which made my heart to glow.
. . .
A pretty babe all buring bright
Did in the air appear.
A pretty babe all buring bright
Did in the air appear.
The babe is crying as it burns—
Such floods of tears did shed,
As though its flood should quench its flames—
Such floods of tears did shed,
As though its flood should quench its flames—
It’s as if the babe is in some kind of hell,
or is itself hell—
My faultless breast the furnace is—
or is itself hell—
My faultless breast the furnace is—
The babe’s heart is hell,
but Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke,
The ashes shames and scorns.
but Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke,
The ashes shames and scorns.
A crying baby without a mother.
What a hot potato
that baby is!
What a hot potato
that baby is!
Not the usual babe-in-the-manger image.
The babe in a manger wakes to the cattle lowing
but makes no crying.
The babe in a manger wakes to the cattle lowing
but makes no crying.
I love thee, Lord Jesus,
look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle til morning is nigh.
That baby
is happy and quiet in its mother’s sight.And stay by my cradle til morning is nigh.
That baby
