Bach's B Minor Mass

Bach's B Minor Mass


The Walgravian ancestors step inside
Trinity Church.
The tenors, the horns, the sopranos,
the altos
Say: "Do not be troubled.
Death will come."

The old basses reach into
their long coats
And give bits of old bread
to the poor, saying,
"Eat, eat, in the shadow
of Jethro's garden."

The German words remind us
of the old promise
That the orphans will be fed.
The oboes say,
"Oh, that promise is
too wonderful for us!"

Don't worry about death.
The tidal wave that
Wipes out whole cities is merely
the wood thrush lifting her wings
to catch the morning sun.

We know that God gobbles up
the Faithful.
The Harvesters on the sea floor
are feeding all of those ruined
by the depth of the sea.

Things go on and on.
Even after their tree
Has splintered and fallen
in the night, once
Dawn has come,
the birds can do nothing but sing.


Robert Bly

Posted over on Poetry Daily