On the Clent hills, Kenelm is here in the low valley.
Born to be king, under a hawthorn tree, a headless corpse lies he.
This Mercian king did not count the cost of any tally.
He refused the maxim of me, me.

He would not murder his way to the crown.
But put his faith in Christ.
His reward everlasting renown.
His fate to his death be enticed.

To encourage devotion to an English saint.
Cardinal Newman would walk to the Clent Hills from the Oratorian house at Rednal.
We too can study our island’s history if our heart grows faint.
JRR Tolkien lived during his mother’s final illness at Rednal.

Thus a Mercian saint, an English cardinal and the Hobbit’s mystery.
Are linked here in his quiet English countryside in our history.