 | The Burdens of Belief and Other Poems |  |
107
TEWKESBURY
Where Avon and the Severn join
In one fair tide to reach the sea,
Rises with stately arch and groin
The minster tower of Tewkesbury.
In one fair tide to reach the sea,
Rises with stately arch and groin
The minster tower of Tewkesbury.
Built in the grand old Norman days
When rugged strength in massive stone
Enshrined Belief, and all the ways
In which men felt and built alone,
When rugged strength in massive stone
Enshrined Belief, and all the ways
In which men felt and built alone,
It stands unmoved through later times
Beloved of all this English land;
And from its bells we hear the chimes
Rung out by many a mouldered hand.
Beloved of all this English land;
And from its bells we hear the chimes
Rung out by many a mouldered hand.
Beneath its great round-columned floor
Lies many a knight with arms at rest,
Borne shoulder-high through lofty door
That oped its chancel to the West.
Lies many a knight with arms at rest,
Borne shoulder-high through lofty door
That oped its chancel to the West.
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It holds the warrior bones of those
Whose fame still rings with loud report.
The mighty men who faced the foes
Of Crecy and of Agincourt.
Whose fame still rings with loud report.
The mighty men who faced the foes
Of Crecy and of Agincourt.
Round its grey walls for England's crown
The Roses clashed in bloody fight,
And now they both, low lying down,
Sleep in its calm and jewelled light.
The Roses clashed in bloody fight,
And now they both, low lying down,
Sleep in its calm and jewelled light.
And woman's love, enshrined for him
To whom she gave her virgin heart,
Still holds the colours faint and dim
That glowed on forms of loveliest art.
To whom she gave her virgin heart,
Still holds the colours faint and dim
That glowed on forms of loveliest art.
The slender shaft, the spreading fan,
The garland leaves that range o'erhead
Still bower the rich and costly plan
Of lordly Warwick's burial bed.
The garland leaves that range o'erhead
Still bower the rich and costly plan
Of lordly Warwick's burial bed.
Is there no blood that flowing still
From that old love in living veins,
Can rise to work with heart and will
To keep its tomb from Time and stains?
From that old love in living veins,
Can rise to work with heart and will
To keep its tomb from Time and stains?
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Some marble shafts are missing now,
Some tender pendents from the roof,
The altar stone where prayer and vow
Were spoken for a soul's behoof.
Some tender pendents from the roof,
The altar stone where prayer and vow
Were spoken for a soul's behoof.
The world is changed: but Christian faith
Stands where it stood in days of old.
Old forms are gone; yet sorrow saith
All that it then in beauty told.
Stands where it stood in days of old.
Old forms are gone; yet sorrow saith
All that it then in beauty told.
Let reverent hands restore the lost,
Re-tint the faded colours there,
That those by sorrow tempest-tossed
May find a kindred rest for prayer.
Re-tint the faded colours there,
That those by sorrow tempest-tossed
May find a kindred rest for prayer.
| The Burdens of Belief and Other Poems | |