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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FLOWERS FOR THE ALTAR, by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN Poet's Biography First Line: Tell us, tell us, holy shepherds Last Line: Only, worship and believe. Alternate Author Name(s): Dolben, Digby Augustus Stewart Mackworth | |||
I TELL us, tell us, holy shepherds, What at Bethlehem you saw. -- 'Very God of Very God 'Asleep amid the straw.' Tell us, tell us, all ye faithful, What this morning came to pass At the awful elevation In the Canon of the Mass. -- 'Very God of Very God, 'By whom the worlds were made, 'In silence and in helplessness 'Upon the altar laid.' Tell us, tell us, wondrous JESU, What has drawn Thee from above To the manger and the altar. -- All the silence answers -- Love. II Through the roaring streets of London Thou art passing, hidden Lord, Uncreated, Consubstantial, In the seventh heaven adored. As of old the ever-Virgin Through unconscious Bethlehem Bore Thee, not in glad procession, Jewelled robe and diadem; Not in pomp and not in power, Onward to Nativity, Shrined but in the tabernacle Of her sweet Virginity. Still Thou goest by in silence, Still the world cannot receive, Still the poor and weak and weary Only, worship and believe. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A POEM WITHOUT A NAME: 1 by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN A POEM WITHOUT A NAME: 2 by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN A PRAYER by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN A SEA SONG by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN A SONG OF EIGHTEEN by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN AFTER READING AESCHYLUS by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN AFTER READING HOMER by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN ANACREONTIC by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN BEYOND by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN BREVI TEMPORE MAGNUM PERFECIT OPUS by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN CORE by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN DUM AGONIZATUR ANIMA, ORENT ASSISTENTES; FRAGMENT by DIGBY MACKWORTH DOLBEN |
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