 | Brother Fabian's Manuscript |  |
Explicit de Juda Iscariote.
In a year and a day Saint Brandon's sail
Was furled in the harbour of Inisfail,
And merrily thronged the brotherhood all,
Sacristan, Cellarer, great and small,
With welcome of laughter and welcome of tears
For the mariner Saint and his holy peers.
And huge was the feasting far and wide
Through the minster lands that Christmastide.
And the Saint sat at meat on the twelfth Yule-day,
And spake of the sea and the perilous way,
And told, with the rest, of the rock of ice,
And Judas Iscariot's Paradise;
And how for a night they had anchored by,
Lest the fiends who waited and watched should spy.
Was furled in the harbour of Inisfail,
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Sacristan, Cellarer, great and small,
With welcome of laughter and welcome of tears
For the mariner Saint and his holy peers.
And huge was the feasting far and wide
Through the minster lands that Christmastide.
And the Saint sat at meat on the twelfth Yule-day,
And spake of the sea and the perilous way,
And told, with the rest, of the rock of ice,
And Judas Iscariot's Paradise;
And how for a night they had anchored by,
Lest the fiends who waited and watched should spy.
And the Sacristan spake: “'T was the very morn
“Next after the day that Christ was born,
“As I stepped in the gloaming to toll the bell
“For matins, behold, I stumbled and fell,
“With a broken shin and an arm bruised sore,
“On an anchor that clung by the chapel door.
“And I shouted, and, lo, at the noise of my shout,
“The half-clad brothers ran staring out;
“And there as we stood in a scared suspense,
“A cable, that hung from none knew whence,
“Hauled the anchor again up into the sky,
“And we deemed that we heard thy shipmates cry!”
“Next after the day that Christ was born,
“As I stepped in the gloaming to toll the bell
“For matins, behold, I stumbled and fell,
“With a broken shin and an arm bruised sore,
“On an anchor that clung by the chapel door.
“And I shouted, and, lo, at the noise of my shout,
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“And there as we stood in a scared suspense,
“A cable, that hung from none knew whence,
“Hauled the anchor again up into the sky,
“And we deemed that we heard thy shipmates cry!”
And Saint Brandon answered:“It well may be,
“For I deem that we sailed in that upper sea
“Of waters which Moyses saith were pent
“At the first o'erarching the firmament.
“For the firmament standeth fast, we know,
“'Twixt the waters above and the waters below;
“And, certes, above the sphere of the sun
“We sailed that voyage, for day was none,
“Save a glimmer of grey in the misty air,
“Though I marvel much how the moon came there.
“For I deem that we sailed in that upper sea
“Of waters which Moyses saith were pent
“At the first o'erarching the firmament.
“For the firmament standeth fast, we know,
“'Twixt the waters above and the waters below;
“And, certes, above the sphere of the sun
“We sailed that voyage, for day was none,
“Save a glimmer of grey in the misty air,
“Though I marvel much how the moon came there.
“Yet beware how ye seek too curiously
“To fathom Creation's mystery;
“For Science, ye know, is the cub that is yeaned
“By human Pride to the great Arch-Fiend;
“But Faith, an angel born in the shrine
“Of the child-like heart, by a grace Divine!
“Wherefore pray ye for faith, and the God of Love,
“After life's strange voyage, give rest above!
“Ut in æternali gaudio
“Benedicamus Domino!”
“To fathom Creation's mystery;
“For Science, ye know, is the cub that is yeaned
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“But Faith, an angel born in the shrine
“Of the child-like heart, by a grace Divine!
“Wherefore pray ye for faith, and the God of Love,
“After life's strange voyage, give rest above!
“Ut in æternali gaudio
“Benedicamus Domino!”
| Brother Fabian's Manuscript | |