I stopped to call a taxi in the heart of Babylon.
At the pavement’s edge I stood - the traffic writhing on
Leftward to the Whitehall turning like a lustrous snake
Or rightward to Westminster Bridge, the southbound road to take,
There to pass proud Boadicea set towards the tower
Where Big Ben in his solemn grandeur booms the passing hour
As if to warn the seething crowds that Time brooks no de!ay
As he sifts the minutes of the unforgiving day.
While I across the street looked out towards the Abbey wall -
Afloat behind a spray of limpid light that seemed to fall
Veiling the secret features of the Abbey’s ancient face
That houses Jacob’s Bethel stone in its appointed place...
Where Israel’s holy treasure lies for every eye to see:
Safe in our keeping. This, the very Stone of Destiny.
The taxi came. Again we plunged into the turgid stream -
And glancing back, the Abbey seemed remote as in a dream.
Sculptured in its frozen calm it stood apart, alone,
Sharing with God the hidden knowledge of the sleeping stone.
Notes
It must be remmbered that Patience Strong was actually an advocate of British-Israelism.
Babylon here obviously refers to thenon-christian mercantile heartland that is London.
Jacob's Stone (or pillow) is a reference to the stone of scone in the English Coronation Throne which is thought to be the same stone as the one Jacob rested on when he had his dream. http://www.asis.com/users/stag/stone.html
It is an interesting exercise to find the actual strting off point for this tale which was probably written in the 1950s as a prose piece rather than a poem.
JS
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Turgid tosh
From guest Martin Bailey (contact)
The problem with this clumsy verse is deeper than tchnical imcompetence. The observation, for what it's worth, is inexact. The very topography doesn't actually work, and that has the effect of making the whole thing a fantasy rather than an emotion stirred by an actual moment of observation. Unlike, say, Wordsworth's daffodils (ok, he didn't see them but used his sister's very accurate and precisely located moment of observation as the basis for a more general reflection on the nature of emotion recollected in tranquillity)this writer is gushing away about an inexactly observed set of holiday snapshots!
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