Poetry: “Noel”
Noel
by J. R. R. Tolkien
Grim was the world and grey last night:
The moon and stars were fled,
The hall was dark without song or light,
The fires were fallen dead.
The wind in the trees was like to the sea,
And over the mountains’ teeth
It whistled bitter-cold and free,
As a sword leapt from its sheath.
The lord of snows upreared his head;
His mantle long and pale
Upon the bitter blast was spread
And hung o’er hill and dale.
The world was blind, the boughs were bent,
All ways and paths were wild:
Then the veil of cloud apart was rent,
And here was born a Child.
The ancient dome of heaven sheer
Was pricked with distant light;
A star came shining white and clear
Alone above the night.
In the dale of dark in that hour of birth
One voice on a sudden sang:
Then all the bells in Heaven and Earth
Together at midnight rang.
Mary sang in this world below:
They heard her song arise
O’er mist and over mountain snow
To the walls of Paradise,
And the tongue of many bells was stirred
in Heaven’s towers to ring
When the voice of mortal maid was heard,
That was mother of Heaven’s King.
Glad is the world and fair this night
With stars about its head,
And the hall is filled with laughter and light,
And fires are burning red.
The bells of Paradise now ring
With bells of Christendom,
And Gloria, Gloria we will sing.
Today, Dec. 21, is the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, but in the sky the conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn will cause the stars to shine the brightest in 800 years. The conjunction of these two planets may be what the Magi followed as they traveled to Bethlehem.
I wish you all a Blessed Christmas with family and friends.
Merry Christmas to all my fellow followers of The Fleming Foundation. Unto us a Son is born; unto us a Child is given.
I had not seen this when it was found in 2016. Thank you for sharing it. It’s very much Tolkien: all kinds of Saxon imagery and the Blessed Virgin Mary at the center of all the action.