Rondel for Ash Wednesday

Posted again for another year, according to tradition… 

All friends of Christ, hold fast, hold fast;
Fear not these desert days of Lent. 
All grunged-up souls, all people pent 
In pleasure’s prison, bravely cast 
Your senseless sin aside at last: 
Believe the Gospel and repent. 
All friends of Christ, hold fast, hold fast;
Fear not these desert days of Lent.
The thirst and hunger will not last, 
For by God’s Son, who underwent 
The Cross, we know that we are meant 
For Heaven’s home when pain is past — 
All friends of Christ, hold fast, hold fast.

Stow cum Quy Fen, Cambridgeshire, 2nd December 2011.

Rondel for Ash Wednesday

Posted once again, according to tradition… 

All friends of Christ, hold fast, hold fast;
Fear not these desert days of Lent. 
All grunged-up souls, all people pent 
In pleasure’s prison, bravely cast 
Your senseless sin aside at last: 
Believe the Gospel and repent. 
All friends of Christ, hold fast, hold fast;
Fear not these desert days of Lent.
The thirst and hunger will not last, 
For by God’s Son, who underwent 
The Cross, we know that we are meant 
For Heaven’s home when pain is past — 
All friends of Christ, hold fast, hold fast.

Rondel for Ash Wednesday

All friends of Christ, hold fast, hold fast;
Fear not these desert days of Lent. 
All grunged-up souls, all people pent 
In pleasure’s prison, bravely cast 
Your senseless sin aside at last: 
Believe the Gospel and repent. 
All friends of Christ, hold fast, hold fast;
Fear not these desert days of Lent.
The thirst and hunger will not last, 
For by God’s Son, who underwent 
The Cross, we know that we are meant 
For Heaven’s home when pain is past — 
All friends of Christ, hold fast, hold fast.

Posted according to tradition (in a revised version), and also published in this month’s edition of Oremus (no. 274, March 2022), the ever-enjoyable magazine of Westminster Cathedral.

Rondel for Ash Wednesday

Hold fast, all friends of Christ, hold fast.
Be not afraid; keep faith, keep Lent.
All grunged-up souls, all people pent
In pleasure’s prison, bravely cast
Your senseless sin aside at last:
Believe the Gospel and repent.
Hold fast, all friends of Christ, hold fast;
Be not afraid: keep faith, keep Lent:
The thirst and hunger will not last,
For by God’s Son, who underwent
The Cross, we know that we are meant
For endless life when pain is past —
Hold fast, all friends of Christ, hold fast.

(D. Newman, Shrove Tuesday, 13 February 2018; altered February 2020).

Ash Wednesday Rondel

Wishing all readers a good Lent!

Hold fast, all friends of Christ, hold fast:
Keep faith; be not afraid; keep Lent.
All grunged-up souls, all people pent
In pleasure’s prison, bravely cast
Your needless sin aside at last:
Believe the Gospel and repent.
Hold fast, all friends of Christ, hold fast:
Keep faith; be not afraid; keep Lent.
The thirst and hunger will not last,
For by God’s Son, who underwent
the Cross, we know that we are meant
For endless life when pain is past.
Hold fast, all friends of Christ, hold fast.

(D. Newman, Shrove Tuesday, 13 February 2018)

Rondel for Ash Wednesday

Hold fast, all friends of Christ, hold fast:
Be not afraid: keep faith, keep Lent.
All grunged-up souls, all people pent
In pleasure’s prison, bravely cast

Your needless sin aside at last:
Believe the Gospel and repent.
Hold fast, all friends of Christ, hold fast:
Be not afraid: keep faith, keep Lent:
The thirst and hunger will not last,
For by God’s Son, who underwent
the Cross, we know that we are meant
For endless life when pain is past.
Hold fast, all friends of Christ, hold fast.

(D. Newman, Shrove Tuesday, 13 February 2018)

Wishing all readers… not exactly a happy Lent, but one that will bring happiness in the end!

St David’s Ash Wednesday

Aberystwyth, St. David’s Day, 2016

Happy St David’s Day, even though it is also Ash Wednesday!  Let the people of Wales, and all who love Wales, turn to their patron in song.  Song is what the Welsh are best at: after all, there is no distinction in Welsh between poetry and music; there is only cerdd.  If Ireland is the land of saints and scholars, Wales is the home of monks and musicians.

May the Welsh people, who know better than most that anything that is not firm rock is deep water, never cease to mark St. David’s Day.

Dewi Sant, gweddia drosom ni!

Parêd Gŵyl Dewi Sant, Aberystwyth, 5 Mawrth 2016