Classic Poem

When the cock in the dish
Crew " Christus natus est! "
I saddled a wish
And rode from the west.

The ditches were piled
With young children dying:
I saw Herod's child
In a gold cradle lying.

At high white noon
In a tower turned south;
A silver spoon
Was in the child's mouth.

It was bright as a candle
And heavy as lead:
Carved on the handle
Was John Baptist's head.

I climbed like a cat;
I stole the metal;
I hammered it flat
To a silver petal.

I curled the leaf
To a silver bell
To echo the grief
Of Israel.

The dead were dumb
But it spoke for them:
By night I was come
To Bethlehem.

Mary's mantle
Covered the Christ:
With myrrh and santal
His hair was spiced.

I kissed the ground
Where the gold was tossed:
The bell made a sound
Like a young child lost.

" This bell is a bird
Or a shaken bud;
It speaks a word
The colour of blood.

" This bell is a cup
Or a thorny cap . . . "
The Christ sat up
In Mary's lap.

" O take this bell
And stifle its breath,
For Israel
Is tired of death.

" When Herod's boy
Lies broken and dying,
Give him this toy
To quiet his crying. "