The Throat and Mouth from which Exquisite Melody Flows

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

Divine and human, music, mystic, sings

Combined.  The tenor or soprano sweeps

The choir along.  As seraphim’s gold wings,

That voice swirls up the meaning of the deeps

Until we hear it in its unknown heights.

The tenor, he alone, explores our hearts.

Soprano singing opens incense lights

Of frankincense and myrrh.  The choral parts

Fill in the missing throb of pulsing prayer

We did not know we knew.  And if we see

The face of him or her, we feel that Christ

Persi Vignola – Sanctus by Gounod Cecilia Messe

Himself comes down to chant eternity.

  If we are not allowed to focus on

    Those lips, we feel like Patmos lover John.

© Phillip Whidden