'Let's all in love and friendship hither come Whilst the shrill Treble calls to thundering Tom, And since the bells are for modest recreation Let's rise and ring and fall to admiration.' Those lines are taken from a ringer's rhyme Composed in Cornwall in the Georgian time From the high parish church of St. Endellion, Loyal to the Monarch in the late Rebellion, Loyal to King Charles the First and Charles the Second, And through the Georges to our Prince of Wales, A human, friendly line that never fails. I'm glad that you are marrying at home Below Sir Christopher's embracing dome; Four square on that his golden cross and ball Complete our own Cathedral of St. Paul. Blackbirds in City churchyards hail the dawn, Charles and Diana, on your wedding morn. Come College youths, release your twelve-voiced power Concealed within the graceful belfry tower Till loud as breakers plinging up the shore The land is drowned in one melodious roar. A dozen years ago I wrote these lines: 'You knelt a boy, you rose a man And thus your lonelier life began.' The scene is changed, the outlook cleared, The loneliness has disappeared. And all of those assembled there Are joyful in the love you share. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE NEGRO DANCERS by CLAUDE MCKAY SUNSET FROM OMAHA HOTEL WINDOW by CARL SANDBURG CORN-LAW HYMN by EBENEZER ELLIOTT THE DEPARTURE OF THE SWALLOW by WILLIAM HOWITT EPIGRAM: 101 by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS |