I
In synagogues of cedar hills
weathered shepherds prayed
in parabled fields the psalmists
sang as bearded grasses swayed
bowing to a faith as firm as staves
gripped by the sentinels
of flocks whose tinkling softly pealed
a Bethlehem of bells.
II
Crouched on towers, Romanesque
gargoyles leered in stone,
mocking redemptive requiems
with death's processional drone
while sudden scythe and hooded cloak,
quick to plagues and knells,
stalked the campaniles' gloom
of medieval bells.
III
Occasion now usurps grace,
the caduceus replaces staves:
clinking cymbals hide in hymns
dry voices lift in naves;
comforts cushion brutish fears,
pulpits punish bagatelles,
mere tintinnabulary tales
flap as the tongues of bells.
[Original version published in the Trinity Review]
William F Dougherty
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/epochal-bells/