THE CHIMES OF KIRK-SUNKEN.
Reading edition
Twelve sunken ships in Selker's Bay Rose up; and, righting soon, With mast and sail stretched far away Beneath the midnight moon. They sailed right out to Bethlehem; And soon they reached the shore. They steered right home from Bethlehem; And these the freights they bore. The first one bore the frankincense; The second bore the myrrh; The third the gifts and tribute pence The Eastern Kings did bear. The fourth ship bore a little palm Meet for an infant's hands; The fifth the spikenard and the balm; The sixth the swathing bands. The seventh ship bore without a speck, A mantle fair and clean; The eighth the shepherds on her deck With heavenward eyes serene. One bore the announcing Angel's song; One Simeon's glad record; And one the bright seraphic throng Whose tongues good tidings poured. And midst them all, one, favoured more, Whereon a couch was piled, The blessed Hebrew infant bore, On whom the Virgin smiled. They sailed right into Selker's Bay: And when the night was worn To dawning grey, far down they lay, Again that Christmas morn. But through the brushwood low and clear Came chimes and songs of glee, That Christmas morning, to my ear Beneath Kirk-sunken Tree. Not from the frosty air above, But from the ground below, Sweet voices carolled songs of love, And merry bells did go. From out a City great and fair The joyous life up-flow'd, Which once had breathed the living air, And on the earth abode. A City far beneath my feet By passing ages laid; Or buried while the busy street Its round of life convey'd. So to the ground I bent an ear, That heard, as from the grave, The blessed Feast-time of the year Tell out the joy it gave; The gladness of the Christmas morn. O fair Kirk-Sunken Tree! One day in every year's return Those sounds flow up by thee. They chime up to the living earth The joy of them below, At tidings of the Saviour's birth In Bethlehem long ago.
NOTES TO "CHIMES OF KIRK-SUNKEN."
In the parish of Bootle is a small inlet of the sea, called Selker's Bay, where the neighbouring people say, that in calm weather the sunken remains of several small vessels or galleys can be seen, which are traditionally stated to have been sunk and left there on some great invasion of the northern parts of this island, by the Romans, or the colonizing Northmen.
Various circles of standing stones, or what are generally called Druidical remains, lie scattered about the vicinity of Black Combe near the sea shore: several indicating by their name the popular tradition associated with them, to which the inhabitants around attach implicit credence, the spot beneath which lie the ruins of a church that sank on a sudden, with the minister and all the congregation within its walls. Hence, they say, the name Kirk-Sank-ton, Kirk-Sunken, Kirk-Sinking, and Sunken Kirks.