01.01.2011, 12:44
OUR NEW CHURCH CLOCK
Henceforward shall our Time be plainly read —
Down in the nave I catch the twofold beat
Of those full-weighted moments overhead ;
And hark ! the hour goes clanging down the street
To the open plain ! How sweet at eventide
Will that clear music be to toil-worn men !
Calling them home, each to his own fire-side ;
How sweet the toll of all the hours till then !
The cattle, too, the self-same sound shall hear,
But they can never know the power it wields
O'er human hearts, that labour, hope, and fear ;
Our village-clock means nought to steed or steer ;
The call of Time will share each twinkling ear
With summer flies and voices from the fields
Henceforward shall our Time be plainly read —
Down in the nave I catch the twofold beat
Of those full-weighted moments overhead ;
And hark ! the hour goes clanging down the street
To the open plain ! How sweet at eventide
Will that clear music be to toil-worn men !
Calling them home, each to his own fire-side ;
How sweet the toll of all the hours till then !
The cattle, too, the self-same sound shall hear,
But they can never know the power it wields
O'er human hearts, that labour, hope, and fear ;
Our village-clock means nought to steed or steer ;
The call of Time will share each twinkling ear
With summer flies and voices from the fields