Echoing Carols (2007) is a setting of a Christmas poem by Elizabeth Kirschner for two-part voices and two-part accompaniment. The accompaniment can be played on a keyboard instrument or any combination of two balanced instruments.

On the night the babe was thusly born,
snow held its blue breath.
Light spiraled out of angel’s bodies
and kissed the cloud-soft, newborn’s cheek
while carols echoed inside night birds.

Stars flew like wild birds
dazed by the frenzy of song slipping
over the edge of the universe.
The message of God had a crying mission:
sigh yourself unto salvation.

Mary mild, Jesus sweetly stopped
the world’s weeping. Grace cascaded
like a waterfall of melting crystals—
go now and let love live in you
like that child’s quiet heartbeat.

Elizabeth Kirschner, 2007