Poem text and context: https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/11/let-this-darkness-be-a-bell-tower-rilke

Music: Bach Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, performed by Colin Carr

Art: Arthur Rackham, 1926

POEM TEXT / CONTEXT

"Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower" by Rainer Maria Rilke (read by Maria Popova)

Ancestors. Notes

Credits: All songs and texts used with permission. All rights reserved.

Opening Prayer written by Claudia Love Mair

Opening Song: I Know  by Soyinka Rahim from the album Cultivating Seeds of Liberation: Songs of Justice and Joy

First Reading: Austin Channing Brown, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. Convergent Books (2018) page 176.

Sung Psalm Opening and Doxology: Richard Bruxvoort Colligan from the album Monk in the World: Songs for Contemplative Living

Psalm 34: Interpretation, musical setting, and sung by Simon de Voil

Second Reading: Steven Charleston, We Survived the End of the World. Broadleaf Books (2023) page 109.

Prayers of Concern written by Claudia Love Mair

Sung Response: Words by Abbey Dream Team. Music by Betsey Beckman. Arranged and performed by Alexa Sunshine Rose and Simon de Voil  © 2025

Closing Song: There is No Gift So Holy, by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan from the album Cultivating Seeds of Liberation: Songs of Justice and Joy

Closing Blessing written Claudia Love Mair

Prayers, readings, and blessings voiced by Claudia Love Mair and Jo-ed Tome. Audio engineering by Simon de Voil.

Please note: All of the songs and prayer responses are published on albums in the Abbey of the Arts collection unless otherwise noted. In addition, these songs & responses have accompanying gesture prayers and/or dances created by Betsey Beckman that can be found on the corresponding video collections.  Audio and video recordings of the Prayer Cycles are available at AbbeyoftheArts.com.

Cultivating Seeds of Liberation Prayer Cycle: Day 1 Morning Prayer ~ Love

Missing friends

A Gift of Love - Music Inspired by the Love Poems of Rumi

Do You Love Me

The Rose Has Risen
Ken Richard © 2020

The Rose has risen from the earth
she stands upon the emerald lawn.
Singing is the courage that she feels
as her lips kiss the cup of Dawn.

In the short time that Roses bloom
May you never be without love.
Wine and song and Bliss remain
for only as long as a bird song,

The Heavens and the Earth
compete for our eye:
See gardens of flowers
see stars in the sky
We are tulip flames
unquenched by these showers
living our lives
in precious few hours.

Lovers of leaving, our garden is set
with the fragrance of flowers and the wine, that we cherish.
Mark with scent
on sweetened breath;
pilgrims, who’ve long-since departed.

In the short time that Roses bloom
May you never be without love.
Wine and song and the Bliss remain
for only as long as a bird song,

The Rose has risen from the earth
she stands upon the emerald lawn.

Missing friends

Al

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