An anthem for Advent, this is a companion piece to my setting of ’I sing of a maiden’. I have attempted to rethink the words and escape from the melodic patterns of the justly celebrated settings by Boris Ord, Philip Ledger, Peter Warlock and Benjamin Britten, though I have tried to retained a mediaeval flavour. The altos - who begin and end the piece, together with the organ - should sing as darkly as possible, and the brighter soprano melody should escape, as it were, from the binding discords of the lower voices. Be as raucously joyful as possible in the major section. The organ left hand is crucially important, but should just about be audible to create a sense of ostinato unease.