The Shepherds Sing, by Ben Ponniah

Wishing you a very happy Christmas from all at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge.

'The Shepherds Sing' by Ben Ponniah
The Choir of Peterhouse, Cambridge,
directed by Simon Jackson

Ben Ponniah's setting of George Herbert's poem 'Christmas (II)' was commissioned for Peterhouse Choir last year and premiered at our Christmas carol services.

Website: https://www.pet.cam.ac.uk/chapel-choir
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The shepherds sing; and shall I silent be?
My God, no hymn for Thee?
My soul's a shepherd too; a flock it feeds
Of thoughts, and words, and deeds.
The pasture is Thy word: the streams, Thy grace
Enriching all the place.
Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers
Outsing the daylight hours.
Then will we chide the sun for letting night
Take up his place and right:
We sing one common Lord; wherefore he should
Himself the candle hold.
I will go searching, till I find a sun
Shall stay, till we have done;
A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly,
As frost-nipped suns look sadly.
Then will we sing, and shine all our own day,
And one another pay:
His beams shall cheer my breast, and both so twine,
Till ev'n His beams sing, and my music shine.

Text: 'Christmas (II)' by George Herbert (1593-1633)

Filmed in the Combination Room of Peterhouse, December 2025.
Sound recorded by Myles Eastwood https://www.eastwoodrecords.co.uk/
Film: Julian Peters