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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE DEAF-MUTE SERMON by JOSEPH FRANCIS CARLIN MACDONNELL

First Line: IN SILENCE WHICH NO WEIGHTED SOUND COULD PLUMB
Last Line: WHILE THE IRISH BELLS OF LIMERICK LOUDLY RANG.
Subject(s): DEAFNESS; SERMONS;

In silence which no weighted sound could plumb
I sat before the pulpit, while a son
Of canonized Ignatius deftly spun
A sermon with quick fingers and a thumb;
And seated there among the deaf and dumb,
It seemed to me, remembering Babylon
Of the many living languages, that none
Became so much that stilly state to come,
For at the benediction music pealed
A chant of mighty chords, and suddenly
The cleric to his only hearer sang
As sang a lark one distant morn to me
O'er the deaf and tongueless lying in their field,
While the Irish bells of Limerick loudly rang.



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