Furthermore…

[I am reproducing this which was posted by

Alicia on the Multiply Catholic Friends group site.]

“Is there poetry in the sacrament of confession?

I remember the famous three words of the world’s celebrated mountaineer, Mallory who was at one time many years back asked why he was climbing Mount Everest. He simply retorted: “Because it’s there.”

So then, yes there is poetry in an act of contrition at least, one prosaic but profoundly childlike because it is there.

Now imagine if you will, sitting in the front pew of this chapel remembering what it was like in the days of yore when the nuns with the eyes on the back of their veils that see through the penitent’s soul sifting through the petrified young mind for oversight in the list of sins commited leave you wanting to bolt out of heaven’s door…and then, here you are all grown, recalling with fervor the prayer once commited to memory that now go by way of aging…

It does not matter really if the poetry of it does not rhyme because now you know wisdom comes absolutely with the fear of the Lord. The same fear  that instills reverence for the perfect order of creation…And so I penned this poem that reasons with my humanity and that seeks the peace of that one magnificient Word…

I scoop out the gray mass of words

from the cerebral cortex

where the memory of it

flows red with my blood

and begin to shape the unspoken

into rosaries of transformations

with the cross of brown and wine

that tastes sweet with the bread of life

The crystallized tears pour like hailstorms

in verses with the same words that first

came out of my hand

the same hand that had the lifeless words

filing into single entities

with my knees bending to the gaping floor

and my other hand genuflecting.

The words marched to waiting candles

over melted candles in iron sculpture

I slipped a folded bill in the slot meant for donations

where the words waited to light my fingers

I donated some of them too

knowing there’s an ear someone left inside

an ear that can write better than I can or better than I need to.

I took the rest of the formless and unspoken words

leaving the lighted candles to pray for themselves

and sat down in the oak comfort of the past beyond this door

taking care the words do not know

that I am slowly turning them over to the priest

who waits in the confessional box.”

aliceinthepoetsheartland

Both poetry and holiness are ways of looking at life and people. One understanding of holiness is “being separated from the secular or profane” (Modern Catholic Dictionary).  Just so, a reader coming across a bit of poetry embedded within a page of prose takes it as a signal that some kind of refined, elevated or special thoughts are about to be conveyed. As is poetry, holiness is associated with  a sense of uplifting the soul, enhanced sensitivity, expanded awareness, and a heightened appreciation of the ordinary.  When praying, or in the presence of someone or something considered holy, a sense of encountering a higher realm occurs.  Browsing books, one recognizes the books of poetry as set apart from the ‘ordinary’ prose and fiction.

I’ve heard and read a few things over the last few days, as Christmas became Topic #1, about how the curious gifts in the traditional song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ served a cryptic purpose. Tracing back to the time when Catholics were strongly persecuted in England, and were forbidden to speak openly of their faith or carry materials reflecting Catholicism, the Four Calling Birds, Ten Lords a-Leaping and the rest each signified a Church teaching, such as the Four Gospels or the Ten Commandments.
Religious symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas (The 12 Days of Christmas)

1 ‘True Love’ refers to God
‘2 Turtle Doves’ refers to the Old and New Testaments
‘3 French Hens’ refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
‘4 Calling Birds’ refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
‘5 Golden Rings’ refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the “Pentateuch”, which gives the history of man’s fall from grace.
‘6 Geese a-Laying’ refers to the six days of creation
‘7 Swans a-Swimming’ refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
‘8 Maids a-Milking’ refers to the eight beatitudes
‘9 Ladies Dancing’ refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
‘10 Lords a-Leaping’ refers to the ten commandments
‘11 Pipers Piping’ refers to the eleven faithful apostles
‘12 Drummers Drumming’ refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed.

I always assumed, perhaps wrongly, that the song was reflective of the courtly and noble culture of that era, , and that the various gifts were familiar items among the lords and ladies, and that perhaps the lower strata of society derived some vicarious pleasure from singing about and imagining the trappings of the splendid life style closed to them. It seems possible that the song pre-existed the religious interpretations, which might have simply been imposed on a silly ditty by individuals with didactic intent.