Caedmon's Muse

Photo: Whitby Abbey 2007

Caedmon’s muse

'Caedmon sing some song to me' *1

The voice speaks on,
though song and verse are new,
resounding echoes of the call
etching through centuries.
The ‘Father of Glory’
calls, always, for recognition
as if mere man could realise such beauty.

We build for His glory,
our stones decay and turn to dust,
our voices pale and fade,
our words fall into fathomless pits.
Yet, within this dust;
this fading chorus,
these empty chasms,
a song is sung,
wonders retold.
Caedmon’s spirit walks the earth.

Note *1: Caedmon was a 7th Century secular servant,

at the monastery in Whitby,

when he heard a voice speak those words.
He became the first poet to write in English.

Caedmon’s hymn of creation:
Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,
the might of the architect, and his purpose,
the work of the father of glory

— as he, the eternal lord, established the beginning of wonders.
He, the holy creator,
first created heaven as a roof for the children of men.

Then the guardian of mankind, the eternal lord,
the lord almighty, afterwards appointed the middle earth,
the lands, for men.