Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light;
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O Little Town Of Bethlehem, 1868, Phillips Brooks
This carol was written by Phillips Brooks (1835–1893), an Episcopal priest. According to the story, Brooks traveled on horseback between Jerusalem and Bethlehem on Christmas Eve in 1865. “Before dark, we rode out of town to the field where they say the shepherds saw the star . . . Somewhere in those fields, we rode through, the shepherds must have been. As we passed, the shepherds were still ‘keeping watch over their flocks,’ or leading them home to fold.”