{"id":472,"date":"2010-12-17T14:04:50","date_gmt":"2010-12-17T19:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlydias.org\/blog\/?p=472"},"modified":"2011-10-12T21:24:36","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T01:24:36","slug":"messiah-christmas-portions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/messiah-christmas-portions\/","title":{"rendered":"Messiah (Christmas Portions)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

by Mark Doty<\/p>\n

A little heat caught
\nin gleaming rags,
\nin shrouds of veil,
\ntorn and sun-shot swaddlings:<\/p>\n

over the Methodist roof,
\ntwo clouds propose a Zion
\nof their own, blazing
\n(colors of tarnish on copper)<\/p>\n

against the steely close
\nof a coastal afternoon, December,
\nwhile under the steeple
\nthe Choral Society<\/p>\n

prepares to perform
\nMessiah, pouring, in their best
\nblacks and whites, onto the raked stage.
\nNot steep, really,<\/p>\n

but from here,
\nthe first pew, they\u2019re a looming
\ncloudbank of familiar angels:
\nthat neighbor who<\/p>\n

fights operatically
\nwith her girlfriend, for one,
\nand the friendly bearded clerk
\nfrom the post office<\/p>\n

\u2014tenor trapped
\nin the body of a baritone? Altos
\nfrom the A&P, soprano
\nfrom the T-shirt shop:<\/p>\n

today they\u2019re all poise,
\ncostume and purpose
\nconveying the right note
\nof distance and formality.<\/p>\n

Silence in the hall,
\nanticipatory, as if we\u2019re all
\nabout to open a gift we\u2019re not sure
\nwe\u2019ll like;<\/p>\n

how could they
\ncompete with sunset\u2019s burnished
\noratorio? Thoughts which vanish,
\nwhen the violins begin.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019d have thought
\nthey\u2019d be so good? Every valley<\/em>,
\nproclaims the solo tenor,
\n(a sleek blonde<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen somewhere before
\n\u2014the liquor store?) shall be exalted,
\nand in his handsome mouth the word
\nis lifted and opened<\/p>\n

into more syllables
\nthan we could count, central ah
\ndilated in a baroque melisma,
\nliquefied; the pour<\/p>\n

of voice seems
\nto make the unplaned landscape
\nthe text predicts the Lord
\nwill heighten and tame.<\/p>\n

This music
\ndemonstrates what it claims:
\nglory shall be revealed. If art\u2019s
\nacceptable evidence,<\/p>\n

mustn\u2019t what lies
\nbehind the world be at least
\nas beautiful as the human voice?
\nThe tenors lack confidence,<\/p>\n

and the soloists,
\nhalf of them anyway, don\u2019t
\nhave the strength to found
\nthe mighty kingdoms<\/p>\n

these passages propose
\n\u2014but the chorus, all together,
\nequals my burning clouds,
\nand seems itself to burn,<\/p>\n

commingled powers
\ndeeded to a larger, centering claim.
\nThese aren\u2019t anyone we know;
\nchoiring dissolves<\/p>\n

familiarity in an up-
\npouring rush which will not
\nrest, will not, for a moment,
\nbe still.<\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t we enlarged
\nby the scale of what we\u2019re able
\nto desire? Everything,
\nthe choir insists,<\/p>\n

might flame;
\ninside these wrappings
\nburns another, brighter life,
\nquickened, now,<\/p>\n

by song: hear how
\nit cascades, in overlapping,
\nlapidary waves of praise? Still time.
\nStill time to change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

-Read by Jeremy at St. Lydia’s on December 12 <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Doty A little heat caught in gleaming rags, in shrouds of veil, torn and sun-shot swaddlings: over the Methodist roof, two clouds propose a Zion of their own, blazing (colors of tarnish on copper) against the steely close of a coastal afternoon, December, while under the steeple the Choral Society prepares to perform […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":474,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions\/474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}