THE liturgical season of Christmas continues. You probably have had it with red and green, but you may still tolerate this sublime carol by a fifteenth-century English monk who was both deaf and blind. It is set to music by the composer John Rutter.

There is a flower sprung of a tree,
The root thereof is called Jesse,
A flower of price,
There is none such in paradise.

This flower is fair and fresh of hue,
It fadeth never, but ever is new;
The blessed branch this flower on grew
Was Mary mild that bare Jesu,
A flower of grace;
Against all sorrow it is solace.

Please follow and like us: