A CHRISTENING AT ALL SAINTS (FRESHWATER)

Posted by Admin on 3 April 2009, 12:00 am

The atmosphere, well charged
throughout the centuries
with God’s Own peace, conduced
that Sunday afternoon to thoughts
of worshippers long dead, and in
particular to those whom brass,
Sir Galahad in glass, and white
marmoreal plaques commemorate –
and so to thoughts of Farringford’s
great man who called upon the Lord
for faith.
About to leave that sacred place,
I met a family who brought
a child in arms to be baptised:
and passing by I wondered what
potential lay asleep, in time
another genius to reveal –
a poet, artist, playwright, or
a brain with scientific gifts –
or if I saw a victim of the age,
predestined for the dole – a soul
unknown, unsung to share, alas,
in any case the fear of all
who live beneath the shadow of
the Bomb?