A Christmas play our school put on when I was very little. I didn't have any actual parts, but I thought it was pretty... ISTR it was something like a regular Nativity, only set in the 1800s or so.
There was a song in it, besides all the regular Christmas carols, sung by--I forget if it was the lamplighter or the night watchman, a different verse each time, roughly describing the rest of the play:
Night-time has fallen in our little town
Field full of shepherds, lost sheep have been found
An angel from heaven looks down where they lay
He says there's no danger for on this day
Is born in a manger a Savior to stay.
Morning has broken in our little town
Wise men are seeking a new king to crown
With gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh
To give to the son of a poor carpenter
Along with their praises to our Savior.
Everyone's singing in our little town
Fields and the valleys are filled with the sound
Of people rejoicing, for we are released
To spend eternity with the Prince of peace
Laying our golden crowns at his feet.
The melancholy tune for this remains with me till this day... bits of it have relyricked themselves under the severe working conditions in my brain:
When I think back on the way that we were
I can't remember your face
Night-time is calling, come to this place
oebgure, V zvff lbh...