Question:

Do you have the poem "Abbey Tomb" by Patricia Beer?

by  |  earlier

0 LIKES UnLike

Please can you write me the poem? i can't find it

thanks!

 Tags:

   Report

1 ANSWERS


  1. I simply typed in the key words for this poem in Yahoo Search and followed the links provided. But here it is for you:

    Abbey Tomb

    Patricia Beer

    I told them not to ring the bells

    The night the Vikings came

    Out of the sea and passed us by.

    The fog was thick as cream

    And in the abbey we stood still

    As if our breath might blare

    Or pulses rattle if we once

    Stopped staring at the door.

    Through the walls and through the fog

    We heard them passing by.

    The deafer monks thanked God too soon

    And later only I

    Could catch the sound of prowling men

    Still present in the hills

    So everybody else agreed

    To ring the abbey bells.

    And even while the final clang

    Still snored upon the air,

    And while the ringers joked their way

    Down round the spiral stair,

    Before the spit of fervent prayer

    Had dried into the stone

    The raiders came back through the fog

    And killed us one by one.

    Father Abbot at the altar

    Lay back with his knees

    Doubled under him, caught napping

    In the act of praise.

    Brother John lay unresponsive

    In the warming room.

    The spiders came out for the heat

    And then the rats for him.

    Under the level of the sheep

    Who graze here all the time

    We lie now, under tourists' feet

    Who in good weather come.

    I told them not to ring the bells,

    But centuries of rain

    And blustering have made their tombs

    Look just as right as mine.

Question Stats

Latest activity: earlier.
This question has 1 answers.

BECOME A GUIDE

Share your knowledge and help people by answering questions.
Unanswered Questions