Our Lord and Our Lady
They warned Our Lady for the ChildThat was Our blessed Lord,And She took Him into the desert wild,Over the camel’s ford.
And a long song She sang to HimAnd a short story told:And She wrapped Him in a woollen cloakTo keep Him from the cold.
But when Our Lord was grown a manThe Rich they dragged Him down,And they crucified Him in Golgotha,Out and beyond the Town.
They crucified Him on Calvary,Upon an April day;And because He had been her little SonShe followed Him all the way.
Our Lady stood beside the Cross,A little space apart,And when She heard Our Lord cry outA sword went through Her Heart.
They laid Our Lord in a marble tomb,Dead, in a winding sheet.But Our Lady stands above the worldWith the white Moon at Her feet.
Words in this poem
- golgotha n.
- Calvary. See the Note under Calvary.
- calvary n.
- The place where Christ was crucified, on a small hill outside of Jerusalem. Luke xxiii. 33. [L. calvaria a bare skull, fr. calva the scalp without hair. fr. calvus bald; cf. F. calvaire.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Our Lord and Our Lady is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #60663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Hilaire Belloc, Our Lord and Our Lady, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/our-lord-and-our-lady.html, id L21651.
Form and metre
Our Lord and Our Lady is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB childA · lordB · wildA · fordB
- 2 -A-A him · toldA · cloak · coldA
- 3 -A-A man · downA · golgotha · townA
- 4 -A-A calvary · dayA · son · wayA
- 5 -A-A cross · apartA · out · heartA
- 6 -A-A tomb · sheetA · world · feetA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| They warned Our Lady for the Child | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| That was Our blessed Lord, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And She took Him into the desert wild, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Over the camel’s ford. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And a long song She sang to Him | 8 | ········ |
| And a short story told: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And She wrapped Him in a woollen cloak | 9 | ······/˘· |
| To keep Him from the cold. | 6 | ······ |
| But when Our Lord was grown a man | 8 | ··/····· |
| The Rich they dragged Him down, | 6 | ······ |
| And they crucified Him in Golgotha, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘˘ |
| Out and beyond the Town. | 6 | ······ |
| They crucified Him on Calvary, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘˘ |
| Upon an April day; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And because He had been her little Son | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| She followed Him all the way. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Our Lady stood beside the Cross, | 8 | //˘·˘/·· |
| A little space apart, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And when She heard Our Lord cry out | 8 | ····/··· |
| A sword went through Her Heart. | 6 | ······ |
| They laid Our Lord in a marble tomb, | 9 | ··/···/˘· |
| Dead, in a winding sheet. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But Our Lady stands above the world | 9 | ·//˘····· |
| With the white Moon at Her feet. | 7 | ······· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.