Name: Saints in Sussex
Author: Sheila Kaye-Smith

Quotes from Saints in Sussex (Sheila Kaye-Smith)

Sheila Kaye-Smith, Saints in Sussex

“ Singing across the year:
How is it with you in October?
With us the meadows are green,
And the grass is warm with the sun,
And strown with the golden pence
Of the coltsfoot, our offertory.
The tapers are lit for our feast—
Tall tapers are lit for our feast
In the drooping horse-chestnut boughs;
And the thrushes serve our Mass
There in the white thorn hedge,
Where the bloom is breaking against
A smudgy, sweet, grey sky
That shall give us holy water....
Oh, tell us, October Saints,
How you fare at the end of the year. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Sheila Kaye-Smith, Saints in Sussex

“ Now Thou hast come to the end of Thy pilgrimage, Lord;
Thy lamp glows red like a star at the dim lane’s turning:
The bread and the wine of Thy supper are set in the shadows,
And the gleam of Thy cottage calls toilers and wanderers home.
In the feathery green of the hedges the chervil is blooming—
Petals and wafers of scent, like the Host in a dream....
The night wind is singing the Mass of Thy living and dying,
O Pilgrim of Love, Who at last hast come to Thy shrine. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Sheila Kaye-Smith, Saints in Sussex

“ Such a turning, such a burning for Mary Magdalene?
Mary Magdalene has gone down to the Preacher—
The strange Young Man from the western town:
With silk she is shining, with scent she is sweet,
Her eyes are like water, like flowers are her feet,
And when she has come to the Green she falls down
Before the Young Preacher and kisses His feet.
She kisses His feet and she cries out for pardon,
With tears and with kisses His feet are all wet ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Sheila Kaye-Smith, Saints in Sussex

“ We hear thou preachest still
A Man more fair than Bald, a Tree
More tall than Ygdrasyl,
A Bread more strong than meat,
Water more fierce than wine—
Than the mead which drunken gods find sweet
In the halls where Heroes dine.... ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Sheila Kaye-Smith, Saints in Sussex

“ The stars are flowers about our feet,
And at my side Thou art the sweet
Perfumed, eternal Breath of May....
With a sob the pale-eyed day
Wakens at the Rother’s mouth,
And back to earthly fields I go,
And back to earthly toil, and slow
Hot days of the slow, drawling South,
Toiling to keep the fields alive,
For our poor meadows cannot thrive
On just the memory of Thy feet,
Which trod them once and found them sweet. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Sheila Kaye-Smith, Saints in Sussex

“ When evening falls the church bells ring,
And faithful voices pray and sing;
When morning comes the faithful feet
Tread to the altar-paces sweet.
The Lamb is with us day and night,
So, like high Heaven’s, our streets are bright. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Sheila Kaye-Smith, Saints in Sussex

“ Such a story, such a glory for Mary Magdalene?
20 ST. MATTHEW
Matthew the Publican sits at the gate of September,
Counting the gold of the passing and vanishing year—
The gold that the Summer must pay with her tears and sighings—
The gold of the falling leaves.
The Lord goes by and, turning, says unto Matthew:
“Follow Me—follow Me down the long months into Winter,
“Follow Me—follow Me down through the fogs of November,
“When the coin of the year is spent and the trees are beggared,
“With never a golden leaf to drop at the gate—
“Follow Me.”
Matthew the Publican rises to follow his Lord ”

Sheila Kaye-Smith

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Quotes from Saints in Sussex (Sheila Kaye-Smith)

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Sheila Kaye-Smith

Summary

Quotes from Saints in Sussex (Sheila Kaye-Smith)

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