Francis Thompson on St. Thomas More

From his poem “To the English Martyrs”

Ah, happy Fool of Christ, unawed

By familiar sanctities,

You served your Lord at holy ease !

Dear Jester in the Courts of God

In whose spirit, enchanting yet,

Wisdom and love, together met,

Laughed on each other for content !

That an inward merriment,

An inviolate soul of pleasure,

To your motions taught a measure

All your days ; which tyrant king,

Nor bonds, nor any bitter thing

Could embitter or perturb ;

No daughter’s tears, nor, more acerb,

A daughter’s frail declension from

Thy serene example, come

Between thee and thy much content.

Nor could the last sharp argument

Turn thee from thy sweetest folly ;

Leave a Reply