allay: my heart

in the hush of the Mass this night

the reserve of contemplative faces

rapt attention

fixed to the alter

seeking to resolve the darkness

strongly cast. and it is 

the light we know beyond

to pull ourselves to the fore.

humbled to a knee, before the place set 

for one and each.

the agape, a meal of the heart

the εὐχαριστία, thanksgiving,

the clarifying sustenance.

and I think of her and the fixed 

prayers take new shape

an alighted incense, smoke rising

far from this place and time

ever-changing wings seeking

slowly and thoughtfully

upward 

to the light beyond this sphere

to the sacred vaults that transcend

surely.

and this particular affectation

this singular mark of mine

a fixed star, as our Mother Queen

I pray.

'it is love.'

I know.  and I pray for her heart

and her soul and that the Saints

may pray for her as well 

bend the lights of stars into her view

the seraphim intertwined

within the affairs of devotion

that goodly cause

which keeps our gaze

from the immaterial.

my Savior

I pray beyond the recitation

and they, gilded by ardor

as lamentable and sweet

as any before

I pray in concert with the chorus

and our single piano 

enough to sustain

expression.

and my heart is stamped and

time unhinged.