In nomine
Of the water god speaking
in the stream washing
graveled roots of ferns
with all of our grief
Dominus vobiscum
Seen from within the water
may we be among the god
in the water in the root
in the leaf and wing
Confiteor
Having climbed all this way
made this fire confessed
every failing to the flames
I am still not now changed
Kyrie Eleison
This must be the height
from which angelic beings
gaze lovingly upon us even
as we writhe in our beds
Oremus
And even though we don't know
who this is the words still
pour forth in invocation
supplication contemplation
Verbum Domini
And even though words don't speak
to what this fire sees or what
it changes me into words are all
I have to know the aster's heart
Dominus sit in corde
Crystalline earth energy meets
fountains of blessings pouring
into the rag and bone shop
of the most wounded heart
Munda cor meum
By grace a gate is opened
fears fall away breathing
becomes inspiration separation
vanishes in sweet herb smoke
Gloria tibi
By dint of sitting utterly still
on this stone moved for me
There is nothing to do but
behold the blessed valley
Laus tibi
Having no offering no
Tobacco I offer only water
until nothing is left up here
but to thank and to praise
Eucharist
Under the leaning granite altar
looming above me an exchange
occurs I feel all my relations
with me the sacred hoop whole
Sanctus
This granite this ridge
these trees budding out a
green haze in the ravine
were never not this holy
Regnum et potestas et gloria
My kingdom for a lawyer
so pitiful is my fire now
whose power is already gone
up in this smoky glory
Pax domine
Finally emptied of all I carried
the time comes to descend
reclaiming the daily bread
remaining silent at the center
Agnus dei
This is no sacrifice in the old way
no livestock given away only
the making holy of every aster,
fern, footstep down the mountain
© Bill Prindle, 2017
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Asters
Photo by Tony Russell |
