A Third Christmas Song

I'm sure I'll soon run out of songs to add to this unintentional series of less-well-known Christmas songs, but the conversational aspects of "Good King Wenceslas" reminded me of this one, which is a conversation between a watchman and a traveler.  Their speech alternates in two-line parts.

Watchman, Tell Us Of The Night

Watchman, tell us of the night,
What its signs of promise are.
Traveler, o’er yon mountain’s height,
See that glory beaming star.
Watchman, does its beauteous ray
Aught of joy or hope foretell?
Traveler, yes—it brings the day,
Promised day of Israel.

Watchman, tell us of the night;
Higher yet that star ascends.
Traveler, blessedness and light,
Peace and truth its course portends.
Watchman, will its beams alone
Gild the spot that gave them birth?
Traveler, ages are its own;
See, it bursts o’er all the earth.

Watchman, tell us of the night,
For the morning seems to dawn.
Traveler, darkness takes its flight,
Doubt and terror are withdrawn.
Watchman, let thy wanderings cease;
Hie thee to thy quiet home.
Traveler, lo! the Prince of Peace,
Lo! the Son of God is come!

Here is very simple notation and sound for the tune I'm familiar with.  A  public domain copy of words and music for the above tune can be accessed here. The words were written by John Bowring and the music by Lowell Mason.

Another common tune called Aberystwyth (Parry) can be heard here.  

I've seen references to the song being associated with Songs of the Church, although I'm not sure that it's a reference to the song book of that title I'm familiar with.

An internet site contains this uncredited quote:  This hymn evokes a vi­vid child­hood mem­o­ry. Two men with deep, so­nor­ous voic­es sang this song at the Christ­mas Eve mid­night ser­vice each year as long as we can re­mem­ber. The church was dark, the watch­man’s and tra­vel­er’s two lan­terns giv­ing the on­ly light in a hushed sanc­tu­a­ry. The watch­man stood at the al­tar, and the tra­vel­er slow­ly made his way down the aisle, as the two sang the quest­ion-re­ply vers­es to each other. It was hard to miss the sym­bol­ism of the lone­ly tra­vel­er mak­ing his way to the One Who sheds light on a dark world.

This quote captures my feelings about the song "Watchman Tell Us of the Night."  I hear in it the fulfillment of a searching heart, gently guided to Jesus by one who has already found Him and felt the peace that He provides.