Observations placeholder
Hawker, Robert Stephen - Modryb Marya - Now of all the trees by the King's highway
Identifier
001944
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
From 'I would not be forgotten '– The Life and Work of Robert Stephen Hawker by Patrick Hutton
…...the holly tree in Christian folklore embraces the hedgerow's uniquely bright bounty at Christmas, there for everyone including the poor. It is also evergreen, emblematic of eternal life, and spattered with berries, like blood falling from the crucified body of Christ onto his mother standing below. Meanwhile the robin, his breast reddened from the same source, sings on Christmas Eve and shelter is given to all birds, especially on Christmas Day. There is a hint of the poet's favourite habit of equating birds with angels 'Ubi aves ibi angeli', where birds are, there are angels
A description of the experience
Robert Stephen Hawker – Modryb Marya
Now of all the trees by the King's highway
Which do you love the best?
O, the one that is green upon Christmas day
The bush with the bleeding breast.
Now the holly with her drops of blood for me,
For that is our dear Aunt Mary's tree
…......
'Tis a bush that the birds will never leave;
They sing in it all day long,
But sweetest of all upon Christmas Eve,
Is to hear the robin's song
'Tis the merriest sound upon earth and sea;
For it comes from our own Aunt Mary's tree
So, of all that grow by the king's highway
I love that tree the best
'Tis a bower for the birds upon Christmas day
The bush of the bleeding breast
O, the holly with her drops of blood for me
For that is our sweet Aunt Mary's tree