Thursday, July 23, 2009

Another, Poem By Tom, " mass for the dead"

Today I went to a funeral, a Mrs. Mary Jane Smith, she was an old woman, she had 6 children,
11 ( I think ) grand children and 3 great-grand children. The High mass was at St. Judes' chapel, in Stafford TX. It was very Beautiful Sam. sang the mass, alone...... (by choice, lol thats Sam for you, but No one at St. Jude's can sing as good as he, anyways...) it was very beautiful And it was old Fr. Campbell, who was saying the mass, I wrote a poem on it here it is, hope you like it. sorry for any miss-spellings. I just wrote it like half-n-hour ago, tell me what you think.


A mass for the Dead
By
Tom


To see
velvet garments in mournful black,
gently swaying back and forth;
like the swinging of the pendulum, that keeps time on us all,
draped over old Father Time himself.
With every solemn genuflection
of his shaking frame,
there was a sort of tired plea
for mercy on the departed soul.

While gently, and steadily,
like the moon hung tide,
did Sam's voice ebb and flow
with the solemn tones of the mass.

Solemn and, quiet sat the black draped coffin,
silently listening to the mournful prayers
made by the priest's shaking voice;
and then to the steady reply,
in its gently chanted, solemn tones.

So, silently stood I,
as the mournful asperges
wept its blessed tears over the quiet coffin.
While the thurifer silently breathed over it
his incensed breath, to give escort
to the soul, as she slowly walked down the aisle,
to be united, for all eternity,
with her heavenly Bridegroom.

Then solemnly, did the coffin follow Christ,
to its resting place;
till he comes again.
Accompanying this was Sam's steady voice
that seemed to follow
the Coffin as it left the Church.

Then all was silent;
except the Altar boy's small button,
brushing against the pole of Christ's cross;
Which did sound as an iron bell's pean,
mournfully ringing in the distance.





12 comments:

Agnes Regina said...

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei.

Beautifully written, Tom; hats off to you.

Thom said...

Thank you, I didn't really think about it but would that be considered prose?
And as it is rather Traditional, would you be able to post it for me on Tradcats perhaps? I would like to see, if it stands up to Tradcat approval. =)

Thom said...

Oh BTW what does that mean, my latin is very basic ( other then, a few prayers of course), Ubi est Roma? lol

Agnes Regina said...

The Latin is the good old "Eternal rest..."

The poem is up on TradCats, (it is traditional indeed, and fits in very well! I have no doubt the other TradKitties will greatly enjoy it.)

I would call it free-verse, if not that strange and rare genre, prose poetry. Oscar Wilde has a set of six "Poems in Prose" which are lovely.

Thom said...

Ahhh I see it now. Requiem = sleep, aeternam = eternal, lux = let,
perpetua = perpetual, luceat = light.

Thank you for posting it. oh and this reminds me I wanted to say,
I really liked your "thoughts at benediction I"it was very beautiful.

Agnes Regina said...

No, not exactly... it's thus:
Requiem = rest
aeternam = eternal
dona = give, grant
ei = to him/her
Domine = Lord
et = and
lux = light
perpetua = perpetual
luceat = may it shine
ei = on him/her.
(thus, "may light perpetual shine on" ....)

Thank you! I am so glad you are enjoying my little book!

Thom said...

=P yea, you n' your fancy latin. =P
j/k lol thank you, for the translation. And thank you, for the invite , As well will I thank Jude.

Agnes Regina said...

You are most welcome and thank you!

Hans Georg Lundahl said...

I was at the first traditional requiem mass in St Nicolas de Chardonnet, it was for a José Antonio and a Francisco - two Spaniards who died on same day and were somewhat famous too.

It was really beautiful.

Hans Georg Lundahl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Agnes Regina said...

I'm sure it was; the Requiem Mass is lovely for starters, and in that church, with that excellent choir, it must have been amazing...

Hans Georg Lundahl said...

Indeed.

So was Midnight Mass.