December 25, 2017 | Filed Under Poem for Hela | Comments Off on Daily Poem: In Dulci Jubilo
While I don’t celebrate Christmas Day as a religious holiday, I have many pleasant memories from my childhood associated with the day. Today’s poem is my favorite Christmas carol, and my favorite version, performed by the Mediaeval Baebes.
I particularly enjoy the mix of languages, often changing mid-sentence; it feels very real and human to me, and conveys both the idea of a shared experience and the ineffability of that experience, which cannot be captured in human words.
Whatever you are doing today, I hope you have some time to relax and to share joy with loved ones.
When everyone had gone
I sat in the library
With the small silent tree,
She and I alone.
How softly she shone!
And for the first time then
For the first time this year,
I felt reborn again,
I knew love’s presence near.
Love distant, love detached
And strangely without weight,
Was with me in the night
When everyone had gone
And the garland of pure light
Stayed on, stayed on.
Small tree with white lightsOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
December 21, 2017 | Filed Under Death Work, Poem for Hela | Comments Off on In Memoriam: For Darin
Requiescat In Pace, Darin, beloved nephew.
Passed into the next life this morning at age 35, 35 minutes before the return of the Light.
Love to your wife, Emily, who made a life with you.
Love to your sons, Max and Miles, who are the continuation of your life.
Love to your parents, who gave you life.
Love to your siblings, who grew into life with you.
Love to all who love you, with gratitude for the light you brought to our lives.
May your God and your Saints greet you at the Gates of Heaven.
May your Ancestors welcome you as you enter Heaven.
May your soul know know comfort and peace.
Blessings to your soul, Darin,
And to all who love you
And who mourn for you.
May we each find comfort in our loving memories of our time with you.
Since I, by my good fortune, return to look on
you, sweet hills, and you, waters cool and clear,
and you, gracious site, whom it much pleased
nature to make adorned and fair,
I can indeed call fortunate the day
and ever praise the longing that was born
in me to look on you again, that earlier lay
dead in my heart ringed around with pain.
You then, I look on now, and such sweetness feel
that however many blows from fortune
I’ve hitherto received, I forget them now.
And so, ever generous and kind
to you, blest places, may heaven be, while in me
desire is spent except for you alone.
