Near and Far (Blunden)/Sir William Treloar's Dinner for Crippled Children

by Edmund Blunden

Sir William Treloar's

Dinner for

Crippled Children

This is an ancient England in the new;Hear how those thousand children leap and sing.Their dreams, their wonder and their pleasure ringThrough England; young expectancy comes true,While Mayor and Alderman and Usher brightWith robes and jewels out of a fairy story,And brighter hearts, wish them their heart's delight,And music shows them sudden streets of glory.

Here walks the shade of Whittington in bliss;O greatness and good-nature, still you thrive.I thank my God, Charles Lamb is still aliveIn these new Londoners; they shall not missThe crown of life; here's Coram, Dickens, Hood,Christmas and Christ profoundly understood.