11 December 2009

Yesterday

I mentioned the quote Schmemann referenced. Pr. Mozolak [Slovak, so poetry runs in his blood] sent it to me today with the following:

Alexander Schmemann quotes from the poet Osip Mandelstam, have you seen it before?

The chalice was suspended in the air
Like the golden sun for a splendid moment.
Here only Greek should be heard:
To take the whole world in your hands, like a simple apple.


The triumphal zenith of the service,
Light in a round room under a cupola in July,
So outside of time we could fully sigh
About that meadow, where time doesn't fly.


The Eucharist drags on like an eternal noon --
Everyone takes the Sacrament, performs, and sings,
In view of everyone the sacred vessel
Pours out with inexhaustible rejoicing.

It also picks up the mythic view that there is no time but only eternity amassed during Mass. The last line could also be a Gaudete touchpoint.

So... here's my morning take:


new weight pressed into God's hands
Harvey S. Mozolak

lift up
hearts and world
too difficult
no impossible to do
because
one is within
and the other without
a hand that enters
the inner space between ribs
for the core inside a soul
cannot hold it high for long
before the beating ends
by battle sword or with a surgeon’s knife
none can lift but a handful
of earth to outer space
pull the rug from under heaven
the foothold on life
without a fall
the gravity of all
thus the apple on the ground
round and bitten
under the bruised and battered tree
cannot be re-hung
only in prayer lifted up
kyrie eleison

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Вот дароносица, как солнце золотое,
Повисла в воздухе - великолепный миг,
Здесь должен прозвучать лишь греческий язык:
Взять в руки целый мир, как яблоко простое.
Богослужения торжественный зенит,
Свет в круглой храмине под куполом в июле,
Чтоб полной грудью мы вне времени вздохнули
О луговине той, где время не бежит.
И Евхаристия как вечный полдень длится -
Все причащаются играют и поют,
И на виду у всех божественный сосуд
Неисчерпаемым веселием струится.


But I think the last verse would be better if rendered something like:

The Eucharist - like a high noon that lasts forever,
They all commune, rejoice and sing …

And in the hierarchy of truths, “I understand Mandelstam” comes just before “I understand women.”

Peace and joy,
George A. Marquart

Anastasia Theodoridis said...

"For as long as you are here, during this Divine Liturgy, there is no time or space." I laughed when I heard a priest say this.

Not quite, eh?

It's that time and place cease to be barriers, are not limitations. Or: there is ALL time, and ALL space encompassed by the Divine Liturgy.

William Weedon said...

In the presence of Him who is present to all yesterdays, this day and all tomorrows...