ChristmasAngelesBell©2021TonyFallon1223
At exactly six o'clock on Christmas Day we would stop our meal
To hear the big ancient bell at the far-off church peal
All around the feast table young and old heads would be bowed
As my mother led our family in the angelus out loud
Our parish was so poor there was no place for a priest to dwell
The church was so small and so many years old we didn't have a bell.
So, the sound we heard was from the bell in a distant village
And was not very loud after travelling for such mileage
It was a wonder we heard it with so many hills between
It made me dream of distant places when I was just fifteen
Often fathers at labor heard the bell and knelt in the dirt
Said the angelus prayer and they no longer felt unchurched
They felt God was with them whether they be out there breaking rocks
Or working with a sheepdog gathering up their sheep in flocks
In other parts the bell wasn't heard because they were too far away
I wonder is it heard on the radio so they can still pray.
For many years all over Ireland this holy time was observed
For those who find solace in this practice may it be preserved
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