Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ST. PAUL'S CHRISTMAS BELLS, by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ST. PAUL'S CHRISTMAS BELLS, by                    
First Line: Ye paltry petty tocsins of the town
Last Line: Heard not in dread, but joy of christmastide.
Subject(s): Christmas; Holidays; St. Paul's Cathedral, London; Nativity, The


Ye paltry petty tocsins of the town,
Keep silence for the pealing of St. Paul's;
He is your King, and on this day he calls
With King's transcendent utterance, bidding drown
Your party tongues in his wide belt of sound:
Which music best
To other sense expresst
Blooms like a band of interwoven flowers
Knit by the Graces or the circling Hours
Or beams like Pharos lighting waters round.

Ye puny chimes, that would your voice declare,
Keep silence for the music of St. Paul's;
'Tis on this day that he his loudest calls,
Filling all regions of the wintry air;
Ye have your days, when men less well agreed,
And proudly various
With parted steps contrarious,
Betake themselves whither they each would go,
To shrines that differ in their outward show
With different pomp that fits each wilful creed.

But on this day—nor is there day like this—
Keep silence for the thunder of St. Paul's,
Muffle your clamour, or with awestruck walls
Be this day dumb, and rapt in listening bliss
Hear and revere, nor wish his right denied:
While he erect
Above the strife of sect
Rings o'er all London his superior strain,
Like trump of Oreb heard on earth again,
Heard not in dread, but joy of Christmastide.





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