Three Songs of Hilaire Belloc

There was a man was half a clown
(It's so my father tells of it).
He saw the church in [Claremont]1 town
And laughed to hear the bells of it.

He laughed to hear the bells that ring
In [Claremont]1 Church and round of it;
He heard the verger's daughter sing,
And loved her for the sound of it. 

The verger's daughter said him nay;
She had the right of choice in it.
He left the town at break of day;
He hadn't had a voice in it.

The road went up, the road went down,
And there the matter ended it.
He broke his heart in [Claremont]1 town.
At Pontgibaud they mended it.

Lady, when your lovely head 
Droops to sink among the Dead, 
And the quiet places keep 
You that so divinely sleep; 
Then the dead shall blessed be 
With a new solemnity, 
For such Beauty, so descending, 
Pledges them that Death is ending. 
Sleep your fill but when you wake 
Dawn shall over Lethe break.

Most Holy Night, that still dost keep
The keys of all the doors of sleep,
To me when my tired eyelids close
Give thou repose.

And let the far lament of them
That chaunt the dead day's requiem
Make in my ears, who wakeful lie,
Soft lullaby.

Let them that guard the hornèd moon
By my bedside their memories croon.
So shall I have new dreams and blest
In my brief rest.

Fold your great wings about my face,
Hide dawning from my resting-place,
And cheat me with your false delight,
Most Holy Night.