In the cathedral close at Wells, In lovely Somerset, there dwells A happy swan; I saw him float Up and down the Bishop's moat Among the cloudy water-weeds. 'Tis an enchanted life he leads. His grandsire served Lord Lohengrin, Lir's children are his next of kin, And Leda's mate and royal others Fly in his flock, -- the sad young brothers Bewitched in Andersen's fairy tale, Tewkesbury's bird, the twain that sail On Shakespeare's Avon, -- but none else Except the elfin swan of Wells, Has a flair for ringing bells. I saw him like a barge of State Sweeping toward the water-gate. I saw the round-eyed unconcern Of his proud profile at the turn Beyond the drawbridge, as his glance Ignored my humble circumstance. Beneath the gate-house window hung A rusty bell that once was rung By travelers who crossed the moat, Swimming or in a little boat, To ask a dole; and thither sped The swan -- I saw him rear his head And stretch his neck and seize the string And ring the little bell, and ring And ring, until his shrill demand Was answered by a fluttering hand Romantically strewing cake Upon thee waters, for his sake. It was the hour when mortals take Their tea in England; all the bells Were ringing four o'clock in Wells. And all the while the bells were ringing, I heard the Welsh coal-miners singing Without the green close, in the glare Of the dusty market-square: I heard the strikers out of Wales, The sooty Cambrian nightingales, Singing their hunger-songs; I heard The music sweet, the bitter word. Through the Porch called Penniless Grievance chaunted, and Distress Hymned old haunting melodies. But swans and canons took their teas. O strange to be a happy swan, Privileged to float upon Waters ecclesiastical In faerie peace fantastical; A her o in a charmed life Untouched by our industrial strife, Unshadowed by the awful dread Of hungering for daily bread. O strange to know that manna fell Every time you rang a bell! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BLACK MONKEY by KATHERINE MANSFIELD THE WISE WOMAN by LOUIS UNTERMEYER THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 71. THE CHOICE (1) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE COMPLAINT OF THE FAIR ARMOURESS by FRANCOIS VILLON WHIM ALLEY by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. TWILIGHT SYMPHONY by LESLIE ANDERSON PENETRALIA by ELFRIDA DE RENNE BARROW |