Yes, as Dillard points out, compasses worldwide tend to go a little cuckoo when the aurora borealis is about to appear in the skies. Their needles twist and flit and jump and agitate, as if they can't wait for the advent of green light in the skies.
People all over the world get the same way about Saint Marty's Day. In seven days, citizens of the planet will be twisting and flitting and jumping and agitating in celebration of Saint Marty. I must admit that it sometimes gets a little embarrassing, especially when I see people from the Salvation Army dressed up as Saint Marty, ringing bells on street corners and outside of Walmart.
Of course, my favorite moment of the entire Saint Marty's Day season is in church, at midnight. The lights are dimmed in the sanctuary, candles are lit, and the organ begins to softly play a Saint Marty's Day carol like "O Come, O Come, Saint Marty" or "What Saint Marty Is This?" The bells begin to chime, and everyone sings. Quietly. Reverently.
I have another famous Saint Marty's Day poem for you this evening.
Saint Marty's Day Bells
by: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I heard the bells on Saint Marty's Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Saint Martydom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."
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| Saint Marty's Day in Hawaii. Aloha! |
