Chester Cathedral by Candle-lightA Poem by JohnLPart prose, part poem. An early draft.
Previous Version This is a previous version of Chester Cathedral by Candle-light.
Recently, we attended a candlelit tour of Chester Cathedral. In a mixture of blank verse and rhyme with no attempt to make it scan, offer the first draft of a poem celebrating the event. I would welcome criticism on all aspects of this, as harsh as you wish. I seek to improve the work considerably before finalising. The avatar is the very modern, very beautiful Creation Window.
Chester Cathedral by Candle-light
From the refectory, after taking wine under the Creation Window,
choristers, just two, lead off into the darkness;
Two candles and some plainsong enter the monasterial, cloistered gloom
of a thousand years of history revealed by a voice with ringing clarity.
Candles and tallow sticks, afford meagre light to the lofty room
that is the Chapter House, where ancient abbots
prayed, lectured and disciplined soul-departed monks
whose relics lie beneath the very floor on which we stand.
Flickering lights fluttered by the breath of singers reach the trusses of an ancient roof,
where odour of holy, long-burned incense lingers, as we process with psalmody,
into choir and transept where Norman, Gothic , Romanesque
meet In the harmony, of time-divided stone surrounding stalls where singers
praise their Holy Lord, reclined on ancient misericord,
and with a glorious silver tone, ten centuries of song and prayer,
the seeds of God’s great love have sown.
Tonight in high fortissimo on humble visitors below,
the player in the organ loft plays sacred music loud, . . . .
then soft . . . . as once more following candles’ guttering flame,
to Lady Chapel, bearing good St Werbergh’s name.
There stands her tomb, by masons’ skill restored,
no more with votive offerings’ brash decor by common folk adorned
but soft lit by gentle candle luminous, Holy, above reformation-scattered relics,
a Princess, then nun, a saintly one, enthralled by numinous,
which even now radiates this Virgin’s Chapel.
Candles now burn low, but steady, smoke reduced,
still guide the chant, the psalm, the following throng
who hear, beneath undying lights, a mighty organ’s song
and, In sudden burst of light, behind High Altar, see
a reredos, of primary Eucharist, telling that on the following day
redemption would the world set free.
A blaze of light has rent the veil;
Cathedral’s heart , before obscured,
Now opened wide, Lord God adored!
We know the meaning of that festive board!
The lighting dims, the visitors depart
Plainsong has ceased, the guides have played their part
The doors are locked, the speaking done,
The nave is dark, the candles gone.
Please God – that we should think upon
What you have done for everyone.
© 2008 JohnLAuthor's Note
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Added on September 14, 2008 AuthorJohnLWirral Peninsula, United KingdomAboutI live in England, and love the English countryside, the music of Elgar and Holst which describes it so beautifully and the poetry of John Clare, the 'peasant poet' and Gerard Manley Hopkins, which d.. more..Writing
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