Bells Sounding

by A Michigan Skylark

Christmas Eve, 1850: Two boys. Two mothers. One tale. Christmas Eve, 1870: Two men. Two memories. One home. (Note: The language of the poem intentionally echoes that of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," which is heard in the score to "A Sound of Bells." This quintessentially American Christmas carol was written in 1850 by New Englanders Edmund Sears & Richard Storrs Willis)

Bells Sounding

by A Michigan Skylark

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1850

One Christmas eve, when they were small,

two mothers' sons were told the tale of

how at midnight's thin exhale

in humble barns around the world

the solemn oxen kneel and speak

and shivering bees in wicker choirs

hum their ancient Glorias.

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Though weary when the tale began

two mothers' boys came full awake, and

begged to see the kneeling beasts and

begged to hear the bee-sweet song,

begged to watch the Christmas come.

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"Only a hovering angel sees

the holy hour," the mothers said.

For nodding boys with wing-blue eyes,

despite their pleas, must go to bed.

To bed they went, though not to sleep.

And wide awake through stillness deep

each strained to hear

the voice of horses on the air.

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1870

Woes and splendors, noise and wrong,

homes cloven and lowly war

were the climbing way to this dark barn,

bending under mortgage and snow.

Here, slow winter harps at the frost-stiff straw;

here, no oxen, no sheep, no star,

just two nodding horses and the old man's cow.

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But on this night—this Christmas eve—a ring of spurs

like small bells sounding across the yard

tells the animals the boys have come

broad-shouldered now against the cold

to see the golden tale unfurled

to see the blessed horses kneel

and hear their voices

should they speak.

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Two gentle mothers' gentle sons

each brought the magnum mysterium

like a faltering flame in a steady hand

to this glad home in this good land.

For hope is heavy, carried by one;

but by two is easily borne

and held

and known.

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SR*SR*SR

Note:

In "Bells Sounding," I wanted to create a shared childhood memory for the boys.

There are few memories more bittersweet and enduring than those of Christmas. The legends of animals reverently kneeling and of bees humming hymns at the stroke of midnight most likely came to America from the folk tradition of the British Isles and are partly Christian and partly Pagan. The animals of the Nativity are referenced in 13th-century monastic liturgy (O Magnum Mysterium*). The text of O Magnum Mysterium has been set by composers for hundreds of years—the choral settings by Tomás Luis de Victoria and Morten Lauridsen are my favorites (excellent recordings of both can be found on Youtube). The very old French Christmas carol (known in English as "The Friendly Beasts") tells of the humble animals' contribution to the comfort of the newborn Christ. Nineteenth-century British poet Thomas Hardy incorporated the legend into his lovely poem "The Oxen." For a strikingly beautiful retelling of the tale for children, I highly recommend the 1962 picture book, Christmas Eve, written and illustrated by Edith Thacher Hurd and Clement Hurd.

I've never forgotten—or ceased to believe in—the miracle gift of animals speaking a language we can understand, if only for one night. I'm so grateful to my mother for telling me this story when I was little. She had an inviolable faith in the ultimate victory of mercy, tolerance, honor, loyalty, and love: she would have been a Laramie fan-girl, for sure.

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*O magnum mysterium,

O great mystery,

et admirabile sacramentum,

and wonderful sacrament,

ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,

that animals should see the new-born Lord,

iacentem in praesepio!

lying in a manger!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!