Angels sing and bees still buzz.

A Christmas Carol linking the #WeStandTogether capaign, the Greater Manchester bees and the Christmas message of Peace on Earth. I am happy for people to use it if they like it, but not for profit. There probably were bees in Bethlehem- honey is mentioned frequently in the Bible.

TUNE: It came upon the midnight clear

The bees were there in Bethlehem, 

It was not a land of snow, 

A desert land of milk and honey, 

Two thousand years ago. 

We heard the Angel voices sing 

Of peace on earth, 

We buzzed our joyful song of praise, 

When Mary gave Him birth. 

Yet peace on Earth was hard to find, 

As years of war went by, 

But we bees heard what Jesus said, 

Perhaps people too could try... 

To learn to love each other, 

Strangers as well as friends, 

Then peace as sweet as honey, 

Will be yours in the end. 

Stand together Greater Manchester, 

And spread this message of love, 

Peace on the Earth, good will to all, 

Angels sing and bees still buzz. 

Stand together Greater Manchester, 

And spread this message of love, 

Peace on the Earth, good will to all, 

Angels sing and bees still buzz.

 ©Liz Delafield 2017

Stand Together Manchester

#WeStandtogether

Every parent who stood where you stood,
Collecting their son or daughter from a night out,
Draws breath deeply,
Do you have a memory of  youth, at a pop concert,
Knowing the taxi of mum or dad would be there,
To take you safely home?
We who stood where you stood,
Stand with you now.
This is the place,
Of poets,  innovators, of flower layers and great north runners,
Of the bee tattoo.
Where #WeStandTogether,
A City United.


In another place…
A mum yet again searches a child who will not return,
Yet here
No poet’s lament to empower you,
No blanket of flowers to enfold you.
No tattoo offers solidarity,
For that is the place
These things rarely make the news any more.

Stand together, Manchester.
Stand together in grief, in love, in solidarity, in hope.
Stand together with each other,
Stand together too with that other place.
We did not stand where they stood,
But in our longing for a world where love is stronger than hate,
We stand together now.