Gerard Manley Hopkins

The Silver Jubilee

To James First Bishop of Shrewsbury 
on the 25th Year of his Episcopate July 28. 1876

1

Though no high-hung bells or din
Of braggart bugles cry it in—
     What is sound? Nature's round
Makes the Silver Jubilee.

2

Five and twenty years have run
Since sacred fountains to the sun
     Sprang, that but now were shut,
Showering Silver Jubilee.

3

Feasts, when we shall fall asleep,
Shrewsbury may see others keep;
     None but you this her true,
This her Silver Jubilee.

4

Not today we need lament
Your wealth of life is some way spent:
     Toil has shed round your head
Silver but for Jubilee.

5

Then for her whose velvet vales
Should have pealed with welcome, Wales,
     Let the chime of a rhyme
Utter Silver Jubilee.