"eleison" poems
Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam,
Et lingua eius loquetur indicium.
Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem,
Quoniqm *** probates fuerit accipient coronam vitae.
Kyrie, fons bonitatis.
Kyrie, ignis divine, eleison.
O quam sancta, quam serena,
Quam benigma, quam amoena esse Virgo creditur.
O quam sancta, quam serena,
Quam benigma, quam amoena,
O castitatis lilium.
Kyrie, fons bonitatis.
Kyrie, ignis divine, eleison.
O quam sancta, quam serena,
Quam benigma, quam amoena,
O castitatis lilium.
Sep 3, 2014
Sep 3, 2014 at 2:02 PM UTC
Death walked up to me one night,
Slipped me a cigarette
We sat beneath the stars beneath my dorm room window,
Death said, “I haven’t touched you yet”
The next day I heard the church bells toll,
My colleague from theater, swung free of her bonds
The whole campus chorusing, their Kyrie Eleison
Who could’ve known? Who could’ve known?
I knew, Death walked in her just as it did me,
I watched Death take her aside and haunt her as she desperately tried
To find an anchor, to find solace, well hers and mine became the theater
When I saw Death with her I envied her the company,
Our morbid fixations sought through our scripts, both of us cast
The same character,
Both of us popping pills carefully hidden in little soap boxes,
Boxed up with wine and razors in care packages from the same lover
Death sat with me the other night,
Held a bandage to my wrist and lay me to bed
He lifted his hood, wiped the tears from my eyes,
Begged me to dance again, on ankles slit,
Caressing me as Elisabeth
Now I’ve been kissed,
Kyrie Eleison,
We shared the same stage, once,
Tell me what's waiting there for me
Beyond the mist of Chapel Hill
May 15, 2015
May 15, 2015 at 4:32 PM UTC
Lord, have mercy, have mercy on me.
I have sinned,
I have fallen,
I am far from grace.
Alone, deeply toned in repentance
I merge my soul with yours, oh Lord.
Mingling my emptiness with your
promises,
with your magnificent love.
Lord have mercy, have mercy on me.
I have destroyed
the goodness
you filled in me.
Adrift in the world of human space
I empty my heart of salvation, oh God.
Masking my faith with indifference,
with anger, with doubts.
Lord have mercy, have mercy on me.
I have become
a caricature
of a man.
Lost in space, in the universe.
My soul yearning for the peace
I used to find in You.
Seeking You, sweet Lord.
Lord have mercy, have mercy on me.
Apr 13, 2016
Apr 13, 2016 at 6:46 PM UTC
for every time
we fail to see
ourselves
and every time
we failed to see
the other selves
for every self paced
story the fool
believes to be true
and for every
thorn we pull
and again hatch
and for this
incompleteness
we drink
into drunkenness
by the fire
of red beard bards
Dec 9, 2016
Dec 9, 2016 at 8:37 AM UTC
You’re 17.
Sunday mass at Church.
Eyes bright. Heart open.
Sign of peace.
A meeting of warm hands across the pew.
Heart aflutter, eyes lowered.
You think, God brought us together.
Sundays are quickly
becoming your favourite day of the week.
Eyes meeting, cheeks blushing
In between the homily.
Weekly meetings turn into bi-weekly dates into marriage.
You’re 24.
You say, God I can’t do this anymore.
Eyes bitter. Hearts closed.
Night-shifts. Poker weekends. Empty houses.
Wordless, soulless, meaningless co-existence.
You think, God brought us together?
No amount of hail marys
Can save us.
That Saturday
Night shift at the Hospital.
Hand sneaking under scrubs.
A breakdown of marriage
Vows.
Heart pounding. Eyes open.
Your saviour.
God’s answer?
Apr 6, 2019
Apr 6, 2019 at 10:59 PM UTC
A division,
a spot of bother.
Part the waters, Moses.
We will wait here and clench our teeth,
for the dams might break
and destroy this city.
This town is slurring its words all over the pavement.
These columns of stone and fountains of gold
won't last forever.
(Selah)
Don't blink,
because I'm trusting you'll keep watch with me.
Kyrie, eleison.
Apr 28, 2011
Apr 28, 2011 at 10:46 PM UTC
Kyrie Eleison
Father, my Father, Glory unto Thee, creator and sustainer of our Earth, hear my prayer. I found a single strand of hair in my car, long and reddish brown, and I wept.
I wept not for myself, or for something that I had lost, but for an idea which that represented, a yearning for something greater than myself, for a finale end to this loneliness I have run from for uncounted years.
Yet I understood that we, your children, are more than abstractions, more than symbols, more than mere variations on a theme.
We are the landscaper who left a single bunch of flowers unmowed in an open field, we are the children attending a theater in Palestine dedicated to self expression and non-violence, we are the penitent kneeling at the pillar of St. Simon in Syria, we are the bus driver giving free rides in Queens, we are the random person who pulled a needle out of my friend's arm one night, we are humanity, and our journey is a long one.
Many of us feel abandoned by You, many don't believe in You at all, and many, such as myself, are merely lost and wondering, searching for signs You have left along the way, managing as best we can to get back to that place where You live.
I thank You though, thank You for the beauty that is all around us, but more than that, I thank You for helping me to see it, to see the World, not as I am, but as You are. I am trying, and perhaps one day I shall succeed.
Nov 3, 2014
Nov 3, 2014 at 10:49 PM UTC
tried to clean your grave
again today. i miss you.
i was only three.
he blames you, you know,
for something you said to him
when he was sixteen:
"make her come back home;
don't come back until you do.
go get your mother."
he didn't talk back.
"you didn't do that back then."
1983.
instead, he broke down
thinking you abandoned him
just like that woman.
i know you loved him.
i know you were a good man.
something ****** you up.
whatever it was,
it was speaking through you then,
that unholy ghost.
he never heard me,
just beliefs to argue down
when i was that age.
i absolve you both
though i struggle to do so.
christe eleison.
Aug 13, 2020
Aug 13, 2020 at 5:04 PM UTC
Too soon I realise the dreamlike nature
Of my steps on native soil
The horror of my nightmares a reality
For those in foreign lands
Where once, they said, a saviour was born;
And I sing about this time of year
When others sing of £1.20 wrapping paper
And candy-cane romance - dreams
Cost money, but hope costs kindness.
O Kyrie, Kyrie, Kyrie elei-elei-eleison
KYRIE ELEISON. Not on me, O Lord,
For my petty problems, as much as they
Seep into my sleep in panic
And place vices on my heart
- Mine are but the troubles of the Modern Man,
The one still responsible for ancient evil,
Who used Thy Son's words but when it suited Him,
The self-interested, but not self-examining, Man,
Who cuts down Thy trees
To pay tuppence
To the man working 16 hours a day
To make £1.20 wrapping paper -
And a sticker
To go on a document
That lets me fly
Where I choose.
Dec 26, 2023
Dec 26, 2023 at 6:31 AM UTC
Right use ONE'S servant
Infuse THY gifts grant
Grace refresh my soul
Heart reason flesh whole
Tune sync hymns praise
Enter within temple vase
Our FATHER in heavean
Unleaven Bread be given
Send HOLYGHOST within
O wineskin quench all
New drench within souls
Etch hearts write unrolls
According to THY WORD
LORD music into accord
Mind core broken record
Infinite's touch THY beat
GOD'S rhythm on repeat
Hearken hearts hear eat
THY thought work ways
Yesteryear length of days
Our plight JESUS mission
New sight CHRIST vision
ELOI ELOI Kyrie Eleison
ln sync LORD attune
Music WORD at noon
Melodies ode at tune
O riddles speaks poetry
Read all peaks valleys
To fulfill one's role
And give our whole
Life beat heart soul
Open hearts hear eat
Now reap read repeat
Ears deaf defeat feat
Imploring the aid of
My GOD My GOD
Manu Dei Vox Christi
Opus Dei Pax Domini
Rex Regum Vox Dei
Tov lehodot la'Adonai
Abba! Father! We cry
LORD Elyon Most High
Omega and the Alpha
Name above all Yeshua
EspirituSantoAnakAma
Have mercy on us
Only YOU we trust
LORD of lords JESUS
YHWH first and last
O LORD grant servant
Nothing I shall want
ELOI my only confidant
InstroMEnt REady to DO
Maestro no further aDO
Musiko fuego aDORE ME
Opening salvo LAamoRE
REtreatMEnt torn aid DO
Tune hum ME toDO
ADORE ripple LAamoRE
LuxMundi riddleREMEdy
O leaders to understand
Nations heal shakehands
Embedded LOVE bonds ❤️...lands...
Oct 8, 2024
Oct 8, 2024 at 2:00 AM UTC
This is the end time of a life
unfulfilled
a hurricane of possibilities
unexplored
storming through a life
untended
intended for Love yet
somehow skipped
unrequited
except by Godlove
Kyrie eleison
Lord, Have Mercy
c. 2023 Roberta Compton Rainwater
Jul 4, 2023
Jul 4, 2023 at 9:45 PM UTC