04-30-2024, 04:24 PM
The Congregant's Lament
Even with another month,
my compilation stays undone.
In fact, it has become
not so much my compilation
as my private abbreviation
of someone else's work,
the long-established Book of Hours,
which is to say what I've been doing
for the past three months
is all in vain. Shall I complain?
In truth, last week, it was my throat
that ended up inflamed
what with our four hours' standing and chanting
for the Akathist,
and soon we'll have six hours or more
to honour the Gospels of the Passion,
to further mortify our flesh
before the coming Pascha.
Indeed, I was ahead of myself
to so complain, to so lament,
so long before the Pascha.
Palinode to "The Liturgist's Complaint", 2 April.
Even with another month,
my compilation stays undone.
In fact, it has become
not so much my compilation
as my private abbreviation
of someone else's work,
the long-established Book of Hours,
which is to say what I've been doing
for the past three months
is all in vain. Shall I complain?
In truth, last week, it was my throat
that ended up inflamed
what with our four hours' standing and chanting
for the Akathist,
and soon we'll have six hours or more
to honour the Gospels of the Passion,
to further mortify our flesh
before the coming Pascha.
Indeed, I was ahead of myself
to so complain, to so lament,
so long before the Pascha.
Palinode to "The Liturgist's Complaint", 2 April.