Virtually unknown (at least in this country), the Danish composer Peter Erasmus Lange-Müller wrote this musically interesting setting of a Danish text which Lynch has recast in English verse.

Text: English text © 2006 by Francis L. Lynch

Take me, child, to Bethlehem!
Thee, my God, Thee must I find;
Who can hope, who can hope,
Thee to win while still so blind, Thee to attain.
Wake me from the rest of slumber,
Call my soul to be beside Thee;
Let Thy hand be here to guide me
So that nothing may encumber
My swift race to Bethlehem
Where I Thee, my God, shall find.
Who can hope, who can hope,
Thee to win while still so blind.
Weary of the trials of sin,
Heavy now my foot does stumble;
Without Thee, my soul so humble
Can but falter and give in.
Lead me, Thou, to Bethlehem,
There, my God, shall Thee I find.
Who can hope, who can hope
Thee to win while still so blind.
Lead me to Bethlehem.