Thursday 12 July 2007

The Angels

The Angels

Should you hear them singing among stars
or whispering secrets of a wiser world,
do not imagine ardent, fledgling children;
thy are intelligences old as sunrise
that never learnt right from left, before from after,
knowing but one direction, into God,
but one duration, now.

Their melody strides not from bar to bar,
but, like a painting, hangs there entire,
one chord of limitless communication.
You have heard it in the rhythms of the hills,
the spiralling turn of a dance, the fall of words,
the touch of fingers at the rare, right moment,
and these were holy, holy.

-- John V Taylor
 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Can you tell me what book/collection you found this poem by John V. Taylor? I am looking to use it in a Christmas concert I am part of and am looking for the source/publisher so that I can request copyright permission. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

TonyTheProf said...

I found it here
https://www.sjcchoir.co.uk/sites/default/files/epiphany_2016.pdf

Think it is from
"A Christmas Sequence and Other Poems" (a booklet, not a book)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35056565-a-christmas-sequence-and-other-poems