In the bleak mid-winter
¯(sample, mp3, 64k/s, 475Kb)
I had the guitar part for a while and couldn't get any lyrics to fit. Then I got a mailshot off the Salvation Army and this poem was inside a free Christmas card. As soon as I read it I knew it would work. I had the whole song worked out in under 15 minutes. I only realised later it was the same poem used in the carol.

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone
Snow had fallen
Snow on snow
In the bleak mid-winter, long ago

          Our God, heaven cannot hold him
          Nor the earth sustain
          Heaven and earth shall flee away
          When He comes to reign

In the bleak mid-winter
A stable place sufficed
For the Lord God Almighty
Jesus Christ

Snow had fallen
Snow on snow
In the bleak mid-winter, long ago
In the bleak mid-winter, long ago

Christina Rossetti 1830-1894