Ballad to Our Lady of Czestochowa
Lady and Queen and Mystery manifold
And very Regent of the untroubled sky,
Whom in a dream St. Hilda did behold
And heard a woodland music passing by:
You shall receive me when the clouds are high
With evening and the sheep attain the fold.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.
Steep are the seas and savaging and cold
In broken waters terrible to try;
And vast against the winter night the wold,
And harbourless for any sail to lie.
But you shall lead me to the lights, and I
Shall hymn you in a harbour story told.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.
Help of the half-defeated, House of gold,
Shrine of the Sword, and Tower of Ivory;
Splendour apart, supreme and aureoled,
The Battler's vision and the World's reply.
You shall restore me, O my last Ally,
To vengence and the glories of the bold.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.
Lady and Queen and Mystery manifold
And very Regent of the untroubled sky,
Whom in a dream St. Hilda did behold
And heard a woodland music passing by:
You shall receive me when the clouds are high
With evening and the sheep attain the fold.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.
Steep are the seas and savaging and cold
In broken waters terrible to try;
And vast against the winter night the wold,
And harbourless for any sail to lie.
But you shall lead me to the lights, and I
Shall hymn you in a harbour story told.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.
Help of the half-defeated, House of gold,
Shrine of the Sword, and Tower of Ivory;
Splendour apart, supreme and aureoled,
The Battler's vision and the World's reply.
You shall restore me, O my last Ally,
To vengence and the glories of the bold.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.
Hilaire Belloc
Richard,
ReplyDeleteSorry to be pedantic again-I always thought that the feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa-Our Lady of Jasna Gora (Queen of Poland) was on August 26th? However, regardless if I am wrong or not I still wish to wish all our Polish Brethren a happy feast-day on whatever day it falls!
God Bless,
Michael.
The lines: "You shall restore me, O my last Ally,
ReplyDeleteTo vengence and the glories of the bold."
do not sit well with 'nice' modern Catholicism, but they sit well with me.
Beautiful, thank you, and God bless!
YE OLDE JARRA SCRIBE - You are right about the date, of course, but when it's an excuse to quote Belloc, who's counting!
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Left-footer,
DeleteThanks-and I agree with you! I have to admit also that I am a great fan of Belloc too.
Cheers,
Michael.
Aha! the date! Yes, well I referred to ye olde French directory of le Fete de Notre Dame and that is what I got....I never mind pedantics Michael so do not worry. I will check my directory and see what is allocated for 26th August.
ReplyDeleteGod bless LF and YOJS
Mmmm....having consulted it appears as if we have a dichotomy of dates here, maybe LF can enlighten.
ReplyDelete26th August is indeed Our Lady of Czestochowa but 3rd May is listed as Our Lady of Jasna Gora which Wiki tells me is another name for OLC.
Two titles, two feastdays, one Mother of God - am I right?
Richard,
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely- you are 100 per cent correct-Yes there is only One Mother Of God!
Cheers,
Michael.