(Wendy Cabell, published in Dulce Poetica, edited by Ruchi Acharya, Wingless Dreamer Publisher, 2022. From April 30, 2021, Great and Holy Friday in Orthodox Church. Feast day of The Passion Icon of the Mother of God (above), of Saint Marie Guyart of the Incarnation, Saint Apostle James (brother of Saint John) and Blessed Hildegard the Empress, and Saint Onenn of Brittany. On Jewish calendar is 18 Iyar, the Haisidic holiday Lag BaOmer. Image from here.)
Prayer of the Nightingale
(a legend of the nightingale as restorer of one's Spirit-song)
The old ones remember.
The Holy One told them,
blessed be He. And we've
seen it and it's true:
The hunted, their song
is first to go.
Some are hounded more than others,
by the greed, the lies.
He didn't tell us why.
"You can help", He said.
Well we aren't exactly lions. But
what could we say? He is truth.
And mercy too.
So the old ones they show us
the notes to bring.
Such a tiny thing.
A breathless night,
a song outside the window.
Will it be a psalm? A hymn? A lullaby?
We choose our prayer carefully.
And sometimes it happens.
A branch is there,
right there in the heart,
and we alight.
To plant the notes
to echo
through life.
A Sabbath song, Candlelight.
We cannot stop the hunt,
He didn't tell us why.
But we can lighten the flight.
Because He sent us,
blessed be He.
He who remembers.
He who keeps.
No comments:
Post a Comment