StoryTitle("caps", "The Cross of the Dumb") ?>
SubTitle("mixed", "A Christmas On Iona, Long, Long Ago") ?>
StoryOrigin("center", SmallCapsText("Fiona Macleod") ) ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(128, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "One eve, when St. Columba strode", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In solemn mood along the shore,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He met an angel on the road", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who but a poor man's semblance bore.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He wondered much, the holy saint,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "What stranger sought the lonely isle,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But seeing him weary and wan and faint", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "St. Colum hailed him with a smile.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Remote our lone Iona lies", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Here in the grey and windswept sea,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And few are they whom my old eyes", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Behold as pilgrims bowing the knee. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"But welcome . . . welcome . . . stranger-guest,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And come with me and you shall find", "") ?>
PagePoem(129, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A warm and deer-skinn'd cell for rest", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And at our board a welcome kind. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Yet tell me ere the dune we cross", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "How came you to this lonely land?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No curraghs in the tideway toss", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And none is beached upon the strand!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The weary pilgrim raised his head", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And looked and smiled and said, \"From far,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My wandering feet have here been led", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "By the glory of a shining star. . . . \"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "St. Colum gravely bowed, and said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Enough, my friend, I ask no more;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Doubtless some silence-vow was laid", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Upon thee, ere thou sought'st this shore:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Now, come: and doff this raiment sad", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And those rough sandals from thy feet:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The holy brethren will be glad", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To haven thee in our retreat.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Together past the praying cells", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And past the wattle-woven dome", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Whence rang the tremulous vesper bells", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "St. Colum brought the stranger home.", "") ?>
PagePoem(130, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From thyme-sweet pastures grey with dews", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The milch-cows came with swinging tails:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And whirling high the wailing mews", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Screamed o'er the brothers at their pails.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A single spire of smoke arose,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And hung, a phantom, in the cold:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Three younger monks set forth to close", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The ewes and lambs within the fold.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The purple twilight stole above", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The grey-green dunes, the furrowed leas:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And Dusk, with breast as of a dove,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Brooded: and everywhere was peace.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Within the low refectory sate", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The little clan of holy folk:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then, while the brothers mused and ate,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The wayfarer arose and spoke. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"O Colum of Iona-Isle,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And ye who dwell in God's quiet place,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Before I crossed your narrow kyle", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I looked in Heaven upon Christ's face.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thereat St. Colum's startled glance", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Swept o'er the man so poorly clad,", "") ?>
PagePoem(131, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And all the brethren looked askance", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In fear the pilgrim-guest was mad.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"And, Colum of God's Church i' the sea", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And all ye Brothers of the Rood,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Lord Christ gave a dream to me", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And bade me bring it ye as food.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Lift to the wandering cloud your eyes", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And let them scan the wandering Deep. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Hark ye not there the wandering sighs", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of brethren ye as outcasts keep?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thereat the stranger bowed, and blessed;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then, grave and silent, sought his cell:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "St. Colum mused upon his guest,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Dumb wonder on the others fell.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At dead of night the Abbot came", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To where the weary wayfarer slept:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Tell me,\" he said, \"thy holy name. . . \"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "—No more, for on bowed knees he wept. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Great awe and wonder fell on him;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His mind was like a lonely wild", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When suddenly is heard a hymn", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sung by a little innocent child.", "") ?>
PagePoem(132, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For now he knew their guest to be", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No man as he and his, but one", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who in the Courts of Ecstasy", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Worships, flame-winged, the Eternal Son.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The poor bare cell was filled with light,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That came from the swung moons the Seven", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Seraphim swing day and night", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Adown the infinite walls of Heaven.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But on the fern-wove mattress lay", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No weary guest. St. Colum kneeled,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And found no trace; but, ashen-grey,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Far off he heard glad anthems pealed.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At sunrise when the matins-bell", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Made a cold silvery music fall", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Through silence of each lonely cell", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And over every fold and stall,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "St. Colum called his monks to come", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And follow him to where his hands", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Would raise the Great Cross of the Dumb", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Upon the Holy Island's sands. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"For I shall call from out the Deep", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And from the grey fields of the skies,", "") ?>
PagePoem(133, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The brethren we as outcasts keep,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Our kindred of the dumb wild eyes. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Behold, on this Christ's natal morn,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "God wills the widening of His laws,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Another miracle to be born—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For lo, our guest an Angel was! . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"His Dream the Lord Christ gave to him", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To bring to us as Christ-Day food,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That Dream shall rise a holy hymn", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And hang like a flower upon the Rood!. . .\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thereat, while all with wonder stared", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "St. Colum raised the Holy Tree:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then all with Christ-Day singing fared", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To where the last sands lipped the sea.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "St. Colum raised his arms on high . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"O ye, all creatures of the wing,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Come here from out the fields o' the sky,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Come, here and learn a wondrous thing!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At that the wild clans of the air", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Came sweeping in a mist of wings—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ospreys and fierce solanders there,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sea-swallows wheeling mazy rings,", "") ?>
PagePoem(133, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The foam-white mew, the green-black scart,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The famishing hawk, the wailing tern,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All birds from the sand-building mart", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To lonely bittern and heron. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "St. Colum raised beseeching hands", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And blessed the pastures of the sea:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Come, all ye creatures, to the sands,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Come and behold the Sacred Tree!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At that the cold clans of the wave", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With spray and surge and splash appeared:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Up from each wrack-strewn, lightless cave", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Dim day-struck eyes affrighted peered.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The pollacks came with rushing haste,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The great sea-cod, the speckled bass;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Along the foaming tideway raced", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The herring-tribes like shimmering glass:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The mackerel and the dog-fish ran,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The whiting, haddock, in their wake:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The great sea-flounders upward span,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The fierce-eyed conger and the hake:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The greatest and the least of these", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From hidden pools and tidal ways", "") ?>
PagePoem(135, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Surged in their myriads from the seas", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And stared at St. Columba's face.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Hearken,\" he cried, with solemn voice—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Hearken! ye people of the Deep,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ye people of the skies, Rejoice!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No more your soulless terror keep!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"For lo, an Angel from the Lord", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Hath shown us that wherein we sin—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But now we humbly do His Word", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And call you, Brothers, kith and kin. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"No more we claim the world as ours", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And everything that therein is—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To-day, Christ's Day, the infinite powers", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Decree a common share of bliss.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"I know not if the new-waked soul", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That stirs in every heart I see", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Has yet to reach the far-off goal", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Whose symbol is this Cross-shaped Tree. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"But, O dumb kindred of the skies,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O kinsfolk of the pathless seas,", "") ?>
PagePoem(136, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All scorn and hate I exorcise,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And wish you nought but Love and Peace!\"", "") ?>
Separator(90, 5, "*") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thus, on that Christmas-day of old", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "St. Colum broke the ancient spell.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A thousand years away have rolled,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'Tis now . . . . \"a baseless miracle.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O fellow-kinsmen of the Deep,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O kindred of the wind and cloud,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "God's children too . . . . how He must weep", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who on that day was glad and proud!", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>