A new Christmas carol about a mysterious book lying near a crèche display.
Story behind the song
New Christmas carol written for a Christmas play. Two persons jogging on Siesta Key, Florida, one holiday season come upon a life-size crèche scene in which a mysterious book with ornate cover with no visible way of opening the clasp.
Lyrics
[Read]
We’ve heard about jolly Santa
and his eight tiny reindeer.
Then Rudolph’s bright nose
glowed upon us one year.
There’s “Jingle Bells,” and “Frosty...,”
with happy tales to tell;
each year brings us new refrains
for the Season of Noël.
So here’s a new Christmas song
of mysterious delight
to be pondered this Season,
right up to Christmas night.
We sing about a little book
at that first Christmas place;
the mystery is what’s in it -
just what does it embrace?
It matters not that the book
had not yet been invented,
Because this is God here,
and no miracle’s prevented.
Some say, of course,
that it may not have been really there,
but neither was the Drummer Boy,
of whom we sing each year.
(Sing)
If you had been there,
on that wondrous day,
at the stable near the inn
where infant Jesus lay;
Nigh hidd’n by the straw
in that humble peaceful scene
was a tiny book, covered
in adorning red and green.
[Read]
You must look closely in that stable,
for it’s hard, at first, to see;
but just underneath the straw,
it peeks appealingly.
Will that tiny book, when opened,
disclose Christmas Spirit true?
Might it contain, instead of story,
simply Commandments new?
(Sing)
Refrain
The Book by the Crèche,
could it be just a fable?
Does it hold gentle guidance
from the Babe in the stable?
Jeweled red and green wrap,
it’s locked tightly you see;
clasped ornately in gold -
but where is the key?
(Sing)
That book was close to God
when so near the Babe it lay.
What perchance is the subject;
what do its pages say?
Does it contain a secret
of God not yet reveal’d,
or does it hold words of Greatness,
to this day still conceal’d?
[Read]
It has red and green binding
and precious stones you see,
and locked by gold clasp quite ornate -
but wherever is the key?
Alas, the key is not of
the kind that we’d expect;
there’s no keyhole or mechanism
that an observer can detect.
(Sing) Refrain
The Book by the Crèche,
could it be just a fable?
Does it hold gentle guidance
from the Babe in the stable?
Jeweled red and green wrap,
it’s locked tightly you see;
clasped ornately in gold -
but where is the key?
(Sing)
What could possibly be inside
that little crèche-side tome,
with jewel’d spine and glitter’d colors,
in Jesus’ first home?
A tiny volume with covers bright
and clasp of purest gold,
containing text as yet unread
His parables untold?
[Read]
There must be a way, I trust,
to ope that wond’rous lock.
It is by mankind alone,
if we can e’er take stock.
If we can stop our conflicts,
and thus true peace ensure,
and all live by the Golden Rule -
that surely is the cure.
(Sing)
Refrain
The Book by the Crèche,
could it be just a fable?
Does it hold gentle guidance
from the Babe in the stable?
Jeweled red and green wrap,
it’s locked tightly you see;
clasped ornately in gold -
but where is the key?
(sing)
Whatever happened to that book;
where possibly can it be?
Has it vanished like the offerings
from royal Magi three?
We know that on Christmas,
God gave His only Son;
the Crèche-side book, too, is a gift -
presented to everyone.
[Read]
Then the lock may be released
by a Divine inspiration,
to reward all in the world
for its great transformation.
That it ever will be so,
we may or may not believe;
but hark the peaceful message of
that premiere Christmas Eve.
(Sing)
Refrain
The Book by the Crèche,
could it be just a fable?
Does it hold gentle guidance
from the Babe in the stable?
Jeweled red and green wrap,
it’s locked tightly you see;
clasped ornately in gold -
but where is the key?
(Sing)
... clasped ornately in gold -
but where is the key?