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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


OUR NEW CHURCH CLOCK by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER

First Line: HENCEFORWARD SHALL OUR TIME BE PLAINLY READ
Last Line: WITH SUMMER FLIES AND VOICES FROM THE FIELDS!
Subject(s): CLOCKS; TIME;

Henceforward shall our Time be plainly read -
Down in the nave I catch the twofold beat
Of those full-weighted moments overhead;
And hark! the hour goes clanging down the street
To the open plain! How sweet at eventide
Will that clear music be to toil-worn men!
Call them home, each to his own fire-side;
How sweet the toll of all the hours till then!
The cattle, too, the self-same sound shall hear,
But they can never know the power it wields
O'er human hearts, that labour, hope, and fear;
Our village-clock means nought to steed or steer;
The call of Time will share each twinkling ear
With summer flies and voices from the fields!



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