528. An 'Un-Twelve Days of Christmas' Hymn

I indulged in a bit of "graded numerical sequence" versification in this Advent/Christmas hymn, which is also (not-so lowkey) a spoof of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." It's a theme I've touched on before (maybe with a little less grace). I have no particular tune in mind at this time, as usual.

Word from all ages, Gift of truth,
Begotten ere creation's root,
You came to draw the serpent's tooth
That charged with death the garden's fruit.
See what my true Love gives to me:
The God-Man offered on a tree!

Two Testaments, both Old and New,
Direct my eyes of faith to You,
Igniting that thrice-holy fire—
Faith, hope, and love—which they require.
Four gospel witnesses proclaim,
With Moses' five, Your holy name.

Now let me join my hymn of praise
With everything that in six days
You named—from life, its kinds unmixed,
To cosmic spheres, their courses fixed—
That I, with graces seven blest,
May sing to You, my Sabbath Rest.

Nursed on eight blessings from Your lips,
I taste the life that from You drips.
T'ward one who hungers for the nine
Fruits of the Spirit, oh! incline,
That nourished on Your ten commands
I find free pardon at Your hands!

I with the twelve-less-one subscribe,
And with the ancient twelvefold tribe,
And all the saints before and since,
Whose countless tongues one truth evince:
Christ is the Gift, the Root, the Key,
The Life for all—yea, even me!

ART: A poster by Xavier Romero-Frias, via Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.