Inspiration
“The Woodworker’s Ballad”
All that is made of iron
Has lent to destruction and blood;
But the things that are honoured of Zion
Are most of them made of wood.
Stone can be chiselled to beauty,
and iron shines bright for defence;
But when Mother Earth pondered her duty
She brought forth the forest from whence;
Come tables, and chairs, and crosses,
Little things that a hot fire warps;
Old ships that the blue wave tosses,
And fiddles for music, and harps;
Old boards where the carved ferns mingle,
Monks’ shrines in the wilderness,
Snug little huts in the dingle,
All things that the sad poets bless.
King Arthur had a wooden table;
And Our Lord blesses wood; for, you see,
He was born in a wooden stable,
And He died on a wooden tree;
And he sailed in a wooden vessel
On the waters of Galilee,
And he worked on a wooden trestle,
At his wonderful carpentry.
Yes, all that is moulded of iron
Has lent to destruction and blood;
But the things that are honoured of Zion
Are most of them made of wood.
– Herbert Edward Palmer
