Standing Light: Missa brevis with antiphony

For Dan Ramirez, on the Luz Series

Noveni:                                                  Antiphonals

(i) Momentum                           

A brief space mid-morning                Et ducet sicut lumen

when the sun is at a height                iustitiam tuam

to draw out upright shafts                 et iudicium tuam

of standing light shining                    sicut meridiem

here and there in mist                              {Ps.XXXVI.vi Vul.}

throughout the forest

as a grove of trees

grown quickly up

then vanished by midday.

(ii) Mysterium

As standing stones                             Mitte lucem tuam

these beams upright                          et veritatem tuam ipsae

inscribed in quietism                         ducent me

mount further up                              et introducent

with words unknown                        ad montem sanctum tuum

the rightwise runes                            et ad tabernaculum tuum

like braille that teach                                {Ps.XLII.iii Vul.}

by shining touch

in languages of light.

(iii) Ephemerae

Lucent lingams stand                       Lucerna pedi meo

as light and gentle mist                     verbum tuum

as seed scatters down                        et lux semitae meae

the slope around the feet                         {Ps.CXVIII.cv Vul.}

where footsteps fail

to find firm ground

beneath a bed of leaves

then fog moves in and

shining shafts retreat.

Copyright 2008 by Robert Charles Rakoski