"I Wonder, As I Wander"
John Jacob Niles (adapter)
When Mary birthed Jesus, 'twas in a cow's stall
with wise men and farmers and shepherd and all.
but high from God's heaven a star's light did fall,
and the promise of ages it did then recall.
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky,
how Jesus the Savior did come for to die
for poor ordinary people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.
A collector of Appalachian folk music, John Jacob Niles first heard this haunting ballad from a young woman who sang fragments of the song for him at a Fundamentalist Protestant rally in North Carolina in 1933. He later adapted the melody and lyrics into the carol we know today. The wistful words are a good match for this tender portrait of the Holy Family by Myrtice West, a self-taught artist from Alabama. West was wrestling in prayer with family traumas, when she felt a calling from God to make art, viewing her text-laden paintings as visual sermons. (John Kohan)