Liturgy

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

Asters
Photo by Tony Russell