Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CHRIST IN BRITAIN: 27. THE BIRDS OF WHITBY, by THOMAS SAMUEL JONES JR.


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CHRIST IN BRITAIN: 27. THE BIRDS OF WHITBY, by                    
First Line: Sea-mosses hide the massive architrave
Last Line: Between the moonrise and the morning star.
Subject(s): Birds; Hilda, Saint (614-680); Whitby (monastery), England; Hild, Saint; Whitby, Abbess Of


Sea-mosses hide the massive architrave,
Beneath the ruined porch a sheep-bell rings,
And where Hild's gleemen sang to silver strings
Now sound the wailing harps of wind and wave;
But though dreams pass, the restless gulls that brave
The bitter gales still seek the peace which clings
To hallowed walls, and furl their foam-white wings
Along the reaches of the silent nave.

And throstles at the greening of the year
In their wild singing weave the chants of old
That saints have limned with many a colored bar, --
The very song the angels paused to hear
When Caedmon knelt within the cattle-fold
Between the moonrise and the morning star.





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