{"id":50,"date":"2011-08-24T20:14:20","date_gmt":"2011-08-24T19:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/josephcummings.wordpress.com\/?p=50"},"modified":"2023-04-25T09:04:04","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T09:04:04","slug":"nazareth-a-poem-by-joseph-peter-cummings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/2011\/08\/24\/nazareth-a-poem-by-joseph-peter-cummings\/","title":{"rendered":"Nazareth 1942"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nazareth – by Joseph Peter Cummings – 1943<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Mid dust-cloud and fumes the bus grinds to a still<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unloads, then reloads, and has roared up the hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And softly peace steals to the sun-soaked white walls<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a deep, holy hush over Nazareth falls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a cool, quiet church standing near to the road;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Tis built o’er the place where once Jesus abode<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Mary and Joseph so long, long ago,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sacred spot soon this pilgrim will know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a tiny French nun at the gate to be found,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her privileged task – to guide pilgrims around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six soldiers accost her – she motions us in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And each shows a sign of his feeling within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The old crumbling walls – the world we’ve forgot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this nearness to Christ in this so hallowed spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We kneel in the room where once Jesus did live<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in divers tongues our humble thanks give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three Negroes, two Anzacs, the French nun and I,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We knelt there in silence as minutes sped by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Departing, reluctant to return to the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Christian ‘gainst Christian in battle is hurled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the bus groaned its way to the top of the hill<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked back and could see quiet Nazareth still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The old road that Christ and Crusaders once knew …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bus topped the hill and it faded from view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph Cummings R.I.P.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Killed in action at sea a few months later.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nazareth – by Joseph Peter Cummings – 1943 ‘Mid dust-cloud and fumes the bus grinds to a still Unloads, then reloads, and has roared up the hill. And softly peace steals to the sun-soaked white walls And a deep, holy hush over Nazareth falls. There’s a cool, quiet church standing near to the road; ‘Tis … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-his-poems","post_format-post-format-aside"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198,"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2hero.rpmail.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}