Sunday, December 10, 2023

Two Verses in the Eternal Hymn - a poem for two young musicians at Christmas

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Two Verses in the Eternal Hymn

 

For Cate and Jack

Christmas 2023

 

From the foot of the Throne

 

A river flows out into all that is

And with it your music across the universe

To sing the happy beginnings of all things

To celebrate the holiness of being

 

Past

 

Dragons and dreams, the Mysteries of Joy

Galaxies of stars, the Mysteries of Light

An abyss of pain, the Mysteries of Sorrow

Eternal dawn, the Mysteries of Glory

 

Your music spirals and spins among the spheres

Among the orbits and spheres and great mysteries

Great mysteries of beings and things never seen

Your voices join with the songs of Creation

 

Your music slips into our atmosphere

To sing and ring among the rocks and rills

Voices of love singing joy and truth

Your gifts of beauty to humanity

 

You and your sweet voices, rare gifts of love

From the Throne of God to us on earth

And back again, music as light as dreams

And deeper than thunder from Olympus

 

Old Vainamoinen sings at dawn with you

Euterpe, Terpsichore, and Erato are your kin

Apollo tunes his lyre to you, and Pan his pipes

And Cecelia blesses all your works:

 

Hymns, descants, and carols, merry marches for the road

Bubble-gum tunes for the car radio

Sea shanties for work, and nonsense rhymes for fun

You pray them, play them, craft them all into place

 

Your music is a sacred offering to God

You sing it out into the universe

Where every note is an ornament forever

And you are two verses in the eternal Hymn

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