EVENSONG, KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL.....................................................................................PETER MCELLHENNEY

Evensong, King's College Chapel

Poem by Peter McEllhenney

Our days are longer than glass, longer than Stone, longer than light and air, longer than The waters of this softly flowing river that will Pass, rise, fall, and pass again while we speak These words, sing these words. Our days are Longer than prayer or scholarship, than ambition Or boasting or riot or sleeping or waking or food Or kisses or the bright exalting summer of youth. They are longer than sorrow or rejoicing or love Or bones turned to powder. Our steps trace and Retrace the paths of echoing generations, and We are indistinguishable among them. For a Thousand years has the black-haired girl sat in Choir and stared black-eyed, and for a thousand More will she sit and stare. We will speak these Words, sing these words. For centuries the man Has sat dry in his faith, and for centuries more Will he sit. We will speak these words, sing these Words. The dry man will find his faith and the Black-eyed girl will look up. We have no need For rushing. With our words and our singing We make this glass and this stone the great Still center of creation. The long grass moves From the breath of our words. The trailing Willows sway from the breath of our singing. The river flows softly while we speak and we Sing. These words and this singing pass from Mouth to mouth and their living is continuous. We do not matter at all. Our broken ineluctable Particulars are translated into these words and This singing, and we are made whole by them. When the windows are blank cold darkness we Speak. When the stones glow skin warm we sing. There is confidence in our words and endurance In our singing. The softly flowing river passes. We speak and we sing.