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Welcome ! | Home · FAQ · Topics · Web Links · Your Account · Submit Poetry · Top 30 · OldSite Link | 03-June 11:46:24 AEST | ||
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Array
(
[sid] => 71684
[catid] => 1
[aid] => mick
[title] => A CHANGE OF RITUAL
[time] => 2004-11-15 23:14:10
[hometext] =>
[bodytext] => This year’s All Souls Day was so different From those of years gone by in many a way, For at September’s end my heart was rent- I lost my love and could but weep and pray. The priest stood by the altar, dressed in white, He read a somewhat altered ritual, And from a sturdy booklet did recite. The names of the departed loved ones all.. And after having read a name - a toll In honor of the dead gave soft a clang, It rang and knelled for each departed soul- How pleadingly it chimed and tolled and rang!. Supported by my faithful friends I sat And heard the plea: “Exaudi Domine!” “Et lux perpetua ei luceat!-” The words of the quaint Latin liturgy. The reading of the names went on and on, So many people must have lately died. “Marie Calucci,- dong - Joe Patterson”- The chime begged: “Lord give them eternal light.!” . Name, - Dong! - with even regularity They alternated, but the name of his Had not yet rung and I impatiently Placed on the rose I held a furtive kiss. I could not wait my Stephen's name to hear, Invoked and prayed for in this sacred rite; At last it came - I heard it loud and clear And knew my Stevie-boy was in the Light. The chiming echoed up the church’s vault, And far beyond into a lustrous sphere, My spouse, my precious darling had been called Away from my embrace-and yet was near. Deep in my heart resounded a sweet chord; My Stephen, freed from pain and dread constraints; Has seen and known the goodness of the Lord In the communion of all the saints Elizabeth Dandy 11/7/02 In memory of my beloved husband Stephen [comments] => 2 [counter] => 349 [topic] => 39 [informant] => Elizabeth_Dandy [notes] => [ihome] => 0 [alanguage] => english [acomm] => 0 [haspoll] => 0 [pollID] => 0 [score] => 10 [ratings] => 2 [editpoem] => 1 [associated] => [topicname] => Grief )
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