Short order, like on any battlefield, they lay to rest, 
the tens of thousands gone, their struggles lost ….
and, like the fields of war and flood and quake
no loving ones are present, there's no wake
 to mark another little life now spent

 Now death has reached his high-tide wrack,
 retreats, still watchful, holding back ...

Here,on the country track the ground is green, 
a Chasuble for ordinary days
sewn rich with bullion …. Celandine, 
and Daffodil, against a parchment, pale, 
of Primrose, Dandelion, now veiled,
now stitched with penitential jewels, 
of Violet, Crocus, Periwinkle

This then the eulogy,
so many souls, reduced to numbers, graphs,
The hedge and field have marked each soul, now late
in a rich requiem of silent flowers,
abundant by the hedge and gate,
 the passings, bathed in bitter showers.

Short Order , a eulogy for covid times

A meditation on  'Linden Lea' by the Dorset William Barnes, through the liturgy of the Latin Mass

Linden Lost, a requiem for Mayflies

Mayflies rise, in clouds ephemeral, like rainbows high like bubbles in the sky ... like bubbles ... like flecks in an opal ... lullaby , lullaby

To all creatures under heaven there is given one bright day,
Sad as silly mayfles dancing forth from a summer stream,
Caught in a sunset beam,
Dona eis requiem.

3. Mayflies, Lacrimosa

Trees figure prominently in the mythologies that 
underpin our various faiths.
This is nowhere more true than in the Christian story.

From the two trees in Eden to the three a-top Calvary,
It’s only a short step to Cast the Gardener of Eden
in the role of Forester,Father to the Carpenter Himself,
It is the trees themselves which are the spectators 
and narrators to this story, 
a story which talks of the need for salvation.
not only for mankind, but for the whole planet,
and especially for the Great Forests

Three Trees Chris Reynolds

singsatb

Recent comments

Ruth Christensen

Related tracks