Most times, my mom and sisters know me better than I do (there are glaring exceptions). This week my mom sent me a package of pages and clippings from my favourite Saturday reading material, The Irish Times Magazine. Pieces she knew I’d like, and she was right.
One of them was a new poem by John F. Deane. I guess it’s good I can’t write poetry like this, because if I could, I’d be proud.
A Birth
Yeshua, at your birth, did the angels
sing Vivaldi’s Gloria? and the shepherds,
did they play jaws harp, Jews’ harp, tonguing
Dvorak’s New World Symphony? The spheres–
were they humming, as twilight turned
from tangerine to emerald, and down
to a drear and turquoise basso–did the stars
sound out Bruckner, Brahms and Bach?
That sheep may safely graze…Or was it merely
the snuffling of animals in the small farms, the opening
of stable doors, or city-sounds of preparation
for another day, like an orchestra tuning up, this
puer natus, this image of love, of God invisible.
I love the Irish Times, it’s the only newspaper worth reading, no trash, factual and got the best crosswords.I used to get it at school- a Protestant newspaper at a Protestant school.:)
Here’s a good Irish Times article by Newton Emerson:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/1215/1224285579656.html
“Permanent Protestant will not disclose your financial details to a third party. Protestants are never invited to more than two parties.”
They might not have been there, but I hear God in Bach, Mozart etc.