A Guest Contribution  

Posted by Agnes Regina

Our faithful commenter Thomas posted this lovely poem over at SSPX Jammers and requested that I post it over here to get some feedback from the other TradCats. He wrote it after the recent requiem Mass said for an old parishioner, Mrs. Mary Jane Smith. Let us all pray for the repose of her soul:
Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei.

The word-painting gives a truly magnificent picture of the solemn beauty of a Requiem Mass, with the music sung by a schola cantorum of one member.
A Mass for the Dead
by Tom

To see
velvet garments in mournful black,
gently swaying back and forth;
like the swinging of the pendulum, that keeps time on us all,
draped over old Father Time himself.
With every solemn genuflection
of his shaking frame,
there was a sort of tired plea
for mercy on the departed soul.

While gently and steadily, like the moon-hung tide,
did Sam's voice ebb and flow
with the solemn tones of the mass.

Solemn and quiet sat the black draped coffin,
silently listening to the mournful prayers
made by the priest's shaking voice;
and then to the steady reply,
in its gently chanted, solemn tones.

So silently stood I,
as the mournful asperges
wept its blessed tears over the quiet coffin.
While the thurifer silently breathed over it
his incensed breath, to give escort
to the soul, as she slowly walked down the aisle,
to be united, for all eternity,
with her heavenly Bridegroom.

Then solemnly did the coffin follow Christ
to its resting place;
till He comes again.
Accompanying this was Sam's steady voice
that seemed to follow
the coffin as it left the Church.

Then all was silent;
except the Altar boy's small button,
brushing against the pole of Christ's cross;
Which did sound as an iron bell's pean,
mournfully ringing in the distance.

This entry was posted on July 24, 2009 at Friday, July 24, 2009 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

8 comments

Wow, Thomas! Awesome!

July 24, 2009 at 7:16 PM

Beautiful prose Tom! Anyone who has witnessed the traditional Requiem Mass will remember those now gone through your words; those that have not witnessed it, envision what it must be like.

Why are you not a contributor for TradCats?

A.R.:
Invite Tom to be a contributor please. I don't have his email address.

July 25, 2009 at 4:39 PM

You wish is my command, Jude... it's done. :)

July 25, 2009 at 6:47 PM

I'm no judge of prose, but it is good.

July 25, 2009 at 11:04 PM

It's not really prose, it's free-verse, or perhaps prose-poetry. This stuff our comments are written in is prose. We talk prose all the time. This work of Tom's is a bit more than that.

July 26, 2009 at 4:06 AM

I submit to your higher authority on the matter A.R. Thanks

July 26, 2009 at 12:16 PM

Prose-poetry? that am an oxymoron.

July 27, 2009 at 5:38 PM

It is, Ro, but still, I'm not the first to use the phrase. Oscar Wilde has a set of six or so "Poems in Prose," which are sort of different but they're really cool... look them up.

July 28, 2009 at 5:48 AM

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