Lubeck , March 28, 1942 – Palm Sunday.

Lubeck , March 28, 1942 – Palm Sunday.

Hours before the bells of London rang for the blessing

of the palms, the bombers arrived over Lubeck,

a tinder town tied up in the twines of the river Trave,

and blew it to bits from the cathedral to St Marys.

God wasn’t a Nazi and Lubeck wasn’t on the front line;

it was war; anything goes, morality first.

And that’s what the broken bells of St Mary’s are saying still,

though they lost their tongues, their message is plain. 

The Broken Bells of St Mary's

Saint Mary's church, Lubeck, Palm Sunday 1942.

The bells of the Marienkirche, still lying where they fell

Filled with air,

the bells floated

down;

like dandelion seeds,

sycamore seeds;

like thistle.

Like the bells,

the bombs fell

down;

like dandelion seeds,

sycamore,

thistle.

And soon enough 

all was quiet:

bombs,  bells,

 kirk;
and so too, I assume
the trumpets in Heaven.

.