Jeremiah Webster recently released a new book, Notes for a Postlude: Poems

With no liturgy
and no word from grieving parents,
my son scans the obituary page
of The Seattle Times for news
of Oliver’s death.

This is how he mourns a friend
with no pyre for the body,
no processional, or last-ditch libation
to gods who scuttle beneath
the waves of the Acheron
with its cold and constant dark.

The traffic of commerce,
the mounting up of illiterate men,
and the Faustian distraction
of our devices tempts
nihil anima
to take root
in the soiled-state
of our present tense.

I go to Adoration
where silence
accommodates
the wounded God
my son must wrestle past
the aftermath of Covid
and a godless Christendom
in order to see.

I stare at the tabernacle
until the Host becomes
the sealed cave of Lazarus,
a preemptive Sunday,
praying beyond mortal hope,
beyond the absence of saints
not found in The Seattle Times,
to see Oliver emerge
among the dead
now living.

COMMENTS

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2 responses to “De Anima (On the Soul)”

1. Jean McAllister says:

   11/21/2023 at 9:51 am

   Hope and faith must be tenacious! The grief of a small boy is a very hard thing for a parent to bear, and keep bearing him before the Host. A beautiful lament.

   Reply
2. Joseph Ziesing says:

   12/07/2023 at 1:19 pm

   An honorable and beautiful contemplation. Thank you for sharing your words. May God remain a constant comfort for you and your family.

   Reply