Eddi's Service
Sep. 5th, 2010 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marnanelI was walking home just now, reciting Eddi's Service by Rudyard Kipling to myself. It's a sad poem about a priest in Saxon times who holds a midnight service on Christmas Eve and nobody turns up but a donkey and a cow. It was a favourite poem of my grandfather's— the chemist/dreamer grandfather, not the soldier/architect grandfather— and he would often recite it to me. There's a refrain "a midnight service / for such as cared to attend", and because I learned it from him, I keep hearing myself slipping into his Nottingham accent when I say it.
Maybe I'll recite it onto YouTube for you folks.
(I wanted to say the chemist/poet grandfather, but he never as far as I know produced any poetry of his own. "That man was not really a poet; but surely he was a poem.")
(I'm also now wondering whether the line "for such as cared to attend" is a reference to something, like the rubric of the Book of Common Prayer, but it seems not to be.)
EDDI'S SERVICE
Eddi, priest of St. Wilfrid, in his chapel at Manhood End,
Ordered a midnight service for such as cared to attend.
But the Saxons were keeping Christmas, and the night was stormy as well.
And nobody came to the service, though Eddi rang the bell.
"Wicked weather for walking," said Eddi of Manhood End,
"but I must go on with the service for such as care to attend."
The altar-lamps were lighted; an old marsh-donkey came,
Bold as a guest invited, and stared at the guttering flame.
The storm beat on at the windows, the water splashed on the floor,
And a wet, yoke-weary bullock pushed in through the open door.
"How do I know what is greatest? how do I know what is least?
That is my Father's business," said Eddi, Wilfrid's priest;
"But… three are gathered together… listen to me and attend!
I bring good news, my brethren!" said Eddi of Manhood End.
And he told the Ox of a manger, and a stall in Bethlehem,
And he spoke to the Ass of a rider that rode to Jerusalem.
They steamed and dripped in the chancel, they listened and never stirred,
While, just as though they were bishops, Eddi preached them the word,
Till the gale blew off on the marshes, and the windows showed the day,
And the Ox and the Ass together wheeled and clattered away.
And when the Saxons mocked him, said Eddi of Manhood End:
"I dare not shut His chapel on such as care to attend."
Maybe I'll recite it onto YouTube for you folks.
(I wanted to say the chemist/poet grandfather, but he never as far as I know produced any poetry of his own. "That man was not really a poet; but surely he was a poem.")
(I'm also now wondering whether the line "for such as cared to attend" is a reference to something, like the rubric of the Book of Common Prayer, but it seems not to be.)
EDDI'S SERVICE
Eddi, priest of St. Wilfrid, in his chapel at Manhood End,
Ordered a midnight service for such as cared to attend.
But the Saxons were keeping Christmas, and the night was stormy as well.
And nobody came to the service, though Eddi rang the bell.
"Wicked weather for walking," said Eddi of Manhood End,
"but I must go on with the service for such as care to attend."
The altar-lamps were lighted; an old marsh-donkey came,
Bold as a guest invited, and stared at the guttering flame.
The storm beat on at the windows, the water splashed on the floor,
And a wet, yoke-weary bullock pushed in through the open door.
"How do I know what is greatest? how do I know what is least?
That is my Father's business," said Eddi, Wilfrid's priest;
"But… three are gathered together… listen to me and attend!
I bring good news, my brethren!" said Eddi of Manhood End.
And he told the Ox of a manger, and a stall in Bethlehem,
And he spoke to the Ass of a rider that rode to Jerusalem.
They steamed and dripped in the chancel, they listened and never stirred,
While, just as though they were bishops, Eddi preached them the word,
Till the gale blew off on the marshes, and the windows showed the day,
And the Ox and the Ass together wheeled and clattered away.
And when the Saxons mocked him, said Eddi of Manhood End:
"I dare not shut His chapel on such as care to attend."
