St. Barnabas, Oxford.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker
St. Barnabas, Oxford.(Translation) .
Comment le peril etait long, le jour hors d'haleine,
En topaze et beryl, le soleil se couche,
Ses rayons couchant statiques a six heures moins le quart
Sur l'enlacement polychromatique des briques.
Mon Seigneur, comme l'angelus flotte en bas du chemin,
Que le Saint Barnabas Byzantin soit Ta Demeure.
La ou les frillitaires etaient suspendues dans l'herbe
Une colonne baldaquine garde la Messe.
Adieu aux pres bleus que nous n'avons pas assez aimes,
Et au revoir aux ormes dans les ombres desquels etaient Glanville et Clough
Non pas de poetes mais des ecclesiastiques se depechaient a la rencontre
De ton manque de pitie rougeoye,Rue Cardigan.
- ' St. Barnabas, Oxford'.John Betjeman(1906-1984) . 'John Betjeman's Collected Poems', p.115. Ed. by The Earl of Birkenhead.
He is thinking back to his days as a student at Oxford University, recalling the sunsets of brilliant yellow-orange and emerald green. He hears the 'Angelus' being sung from St. Barnabas Church. Betjeman was an Anglican and his religion influenced his poetry writing. There is a pillar guarding the high-church Mass (not Catholic) . He says goodbye to the blue meadows and elm trees, where the poets, Arthur Clough and Glanville used to walk; but now there are clergymen hurrying to meet the 'redden'd remorselessness' of Cardigan Street.
To me, a deeply moving poem, partly because I lived near Oxford for a year and used to go by St. Barnabas Church.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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8/29/2026 12:16:59 PM # rel_20260827T145718Z_a0f1bd3
