XI
“They drink the toast and shout again:
The pewter-ware rings back the boom,
And for a breath-while follows then
A silence in the room.
“When nigh without, as in old days,
The ancient quire of voice and string
Seemed singing words of prayer and praise
As they had used to sing:
XIII
“‘While shepherds watch’d their flocks by night,’—
Thus swells the long familiar sound
In many a quaint symphonic flight—
To, ‘Glory shone around.’
XIV
“The sons defined their fathers’ tones,
The widow his whom she had wed,
And others in the minor moans
The viols of the dead.
XV
“Something supernal has the sound
As verse by verse the strain proceeds,
And stilly staring on the ground
Each roysterer holds and heeds.