The above is Marco Galvani's musical setting of The Oxen by Thomas Hardy. Here is the original poem:
The Oxen Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock. "Now they are all on their knees", An elder said as we sat in a flock By the embers in hearthside ease. We pictured the meek mild creatures where They dwelt in their strawy pen, Nor did it occur to one of us there To doubt they were kneeling then. So fair a fancy few would weave In these years! Yet, I feel, If someone said on Christmas Eve, "Come; see the oxen kneel, "In the lonely barton by yonder coomb Our childhood used to know", I should go with him in the gloom, Hoping it might be so.
Marco Galvani is a composer based in London. His compositions have been performed throughout the UK, Europe, and North America. He was recently commissioned, along with Sir James MacMillan, Joseph Phibbs and Phillip Cooke, to compose Stella Caeli for The Sixteen as part of their Eton Choirbook Legacy project. This work features on The Sixteen’s subsequent album Star of Heaven. Marco has been a long time collaborator with SANSARA, with whom he is an Associate Composer, and his 2015 Edington Festival commission Tantum Ergo was featured on Cloths of Heaven, SANSARA’s critically acclaimed debut album.