Tenebrae - Songs of Darkness
Consumed by Fire
*Deus, in adiutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina.
Every word an eternal fire
And yet you think I have forgotten
All dewdrops that fell from your lips long ago –
Oh but I merely long
For litanies, to alchemize these to icicles,
That I may burn my memories in this wilderness
With your light.
The Death of Fire
Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, mine acquaintance is darkness.
How desolate this place is
Yet no more than the space I left behind,
The fires lit by others I kill blaze by blaze -
Oh but I merely wish
Forgetfulness, to throw your face in shadows,
That I may quench all hopes of resurrection of lust and longing
In your light.
Broken Music
Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? Shall the dead arise and praise thee?
The canticle melts into the darkness
And the notes fall like tears from the night sky,
Lonely, gasping, torn asunder from the word –
Oh but I merely desire
The death of voices, to silence expression,
That I may hide behind veils, stone walls, and my eyes
Without your light.
Death
I have come into deep waters and the torrent washes over me.
The words I longed to tell you breathe their end
They drown in the tears you held in your eyes when I left,
They flit in the space that I imagined was you –
Oh but I will delude you no longer
There will never be a turning back, a return to you,
That I don’t repeat this loss, this dying of music
In the murder of our light.
*O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.
*Deus, in adiutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina.
Every word an eternal fire
And yet you think I have forgotten
All dewdrops that fell from your lips long ago –
Oh but I merely long
For litanies, to alchemize these to icicles,
That I may burn my memories in this wilderness
With your light.
The Death of Fire
Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, mine acquaintance is darkness.
How desolate this place is
Yet no more than the space I left behind,
The fires lit by others I kill blaze by blaze -
Oh but I merely wish
Forgetfulness, to throw your face in shadows,
That I may quench all hopes of resurrection of lust and longing
In your light.
Broken Music
Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? Shall the dead arise and praise thee?
The canticle melts into the darkness
And the notes fall like tears from the night sky,
Lonely, gasping, torn asunder from the word –
Oh but I merely desire
The death of voices, to silence expression,
That I may hide behind veils, stone walls, and my eyes
Without your light.
Death
I have come into deep waters and the torrent washes over me.
The words I longed to tell you breathe their end
They drown in the tears you held in your eyes when I left,
They flit in the space that I imagined was you –
Oh but I will delude you no longer
There will never be a turning back, a return to you,
That I don’t repeat this loss, this dying of music
In the murder of our light.
*O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Labels: poetry
Selected by incognito |
18:03 |
3 Comments:
i really liked this poem without knowing what the title meant; when i looked up 'tenebrae' everything fell into place.
echoes of orpheus in the last section....very nice.
the form reminded me of an african poet i've read very recently, but whose name i've forgotten; the slight change to the structure of each sentence, a kind of an overall reverb.
could you explain the quotations in each section--they are all quotations,aren't they?
i like the service echoing the end of a life...esp
'The fires lit by others I kill blaze by blaze -'
very moving.
nice poem reawlly makes me wonder....:-?
thanks a lot everyone...
about this stuff...i guess it being Lent amongst other things made the poem this way. anyway, about the quotations - they are verses from the Bible - Psalm 68:3, Psalm 88:11 and 13 - can't remember exactly. The first verse is the crux of the tenebrae service - where the lights are extinguished, the altars are stripped, the music... ends in silence.
a sense of loss, an absence of commuunion...and maybe more.
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