There will be trumpets; there will be brass bands among the shofars when the walls come down, a blaring fanfare for the common man descending then with thorns upon his brow and holes like whole notes through his riven hands. We all shall rise and wait to hear his count to start the song the hosts of heaven have sung— and each of us shall sing in his own tongue. And yet no Babel, this, but harmony composed of all the musics of the world, a grace redeeming our cacophony and filling up the gaps between our words, transforming every voice that sings off-key into a tone no earthly ear has heard. But we have known it, loved it even so, and even now its echoes in us grow: Reverberating in the daily songs our mothers taught us, fathers bass-note boomed, our sisters played us—striking some keys wrong but far more right—our brothers cracked-voice crooned, and when we grew we learned to sing along and chased that music in and out of tune. When Jesus comes again, oh, he will sing the song that calls to us through everything. There will be choirs and angel voices raised, and in among them voices that we know in myriad songs will make one hymn of praise, and Christ himself with a resounding Do will tune the motifs of our separate lays into one chorus.
Last night and this morning I shared several of your poems with my bride, best friend, cherished prayer-and-life-partner of over 56 years. I had shared single poems with her from time to time but I wanted her to have more of a grasp of your work. She was as quickly and deeply moved by The Fog as was I, and she also rejoiced in the sacred whimsy of the Do Re Mi in There Will Be Choirs. Thank you for these blessings~
As a person who frequently sings off key— and who stopped singing for years because I was so embarrassed at a comment someone made about it— this sings to my heart.
I also love that St Pier Giorgio was known to sing loudly and off key with great gusto not caring.
And I would add: “to fill the gaps between our words/worlds.” Every country, nation, tongue will blend together and we will all understand each other… our languages as you’ve said but also our differences! I love the thought of that.
The resounding Do? . . . As in the Do Re Mi, etc?
Yes.
Hallelujah, sister Kate!
Wow, I feel like this could be a beautiful song too
I would love that!
Last night and this morning I shared several of your poems with my bride, best friend, cherished prayer-and-life-partner of over 56 years. I had shared single poems with her from time to time but I wanted her to have more of a grasp of your work. She was as quickly and deeply moved by The Fog as was I, and she also rejoiced in the sacred whimsy of the Do Re Mi in There Will Be Choirs. Thank you for these blessings~
Thank you so much for sharing them!
“a grace redeeming our cacophony
and filling up the gaps between our words,
transforming every voice that sings off-key
into a tone no earthly ear has heard.”
As a person who frequently sings off key— and who stopped singing for years because I was so embarrassed at a comment someone made about it— this sings to my heart.
I also love that St Pier Giorgio was known to sing loudly and off key with great gusto not caring.
I was thinking of a specific person who usually sings off-key when I wrote it!
“and each of us shall sing in his own tongue.
And yet no Babel, this, but harmony
composed of all the musics of the world,
a grace redeeming our cacophony
and filling up the gaps between our words,”
Beautiful!
And I would add: “to fill the gaps between our words/worlds.” Every country, nation, tongue will blend together and we will all understand each other… our languages as you’ve said but also our differences! I love the thought of that.
It will be so beautiful!
So lovely and so moving!
Thank you!
Lovely!
Thank you!
Thank you!