Maundy Thursday poem by Emily Polis Gibson – Prepare for Sorrow: The Unstilled World

Reflecting on T.S. Eliot’s Ash Wednesday, as well as East Coker inspired Emily Polis Gibson to write a beautiful original Maundy Thursday poem:

On Maundy Thursday, I arrive back to the beginning,  six weeks later returning to Eliot:
“the unstilled world whirled/About the centre of the silent Word.”

This day:

a day of disquiet and silence,
of Christ taking towel and water to disciples’ dirty feet,
of bread broken and fruit crushed and consumed,
of anguished prayer and the kiss of betrayal,
of stilling the sword,
of watching those He loved run off in fear
and deny they ever knew Him.

In my beginning is my end.
And now the light falls and the darkness begins.
We wait, sorrow-filled, our unstilled souls stilled
by our betrayal, our denial, our hopelessness without Him.

The full entry is here.

43 Poems for Lent – a complete index of Patrick Comerford’s 2012 blog series

We continue to get many dozens of visitors at L&B who are looking for Lent poems.  Last year I posted a compilation of some Lent poems, a compilation of Holy Week poems,  Good Friday poems, and Easter poems.  All four compilations are somewhat rough, and I need to update them all, since I now have additional poems by Malcolm Guite, Teresa Roberts Johnson and others to add.

As a small beginning to continue to upgrade our liturgical-year-themed poetry resources here at L&B, I thought it would be helpful if I compiled a complete index of the Rev. Patrick Comerford’s Lent 2012 series of daily Lenten poems, one of the best-ever Lenten blog series, in my opinion! It was that series that really stirred up a fresh interest for me in liturgically-themed poetry.

(Patrick Comerford is a priest in the Church of Ireland (Anglican), Lecturer in Anglicanism and Liturgy in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, Adjunct Assistant Professor in the University of Dublin (Trinity College Dublin) and a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.)

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Poems for Lent (1): ‘Ash Wednesday’, TS Eliot

Poems for Lent (2): ‘Lent,’ George Herbert

Poems for Lent (3): ‘Indifference,’ by GA Studdert Kennedy

Poems for Lent (4): ‘Lenten Thoughts of a High Anglican,’ by John Betjeman

Poems for Lent (5): ‘Marked by Ashes,’ by Walter Brueggemann

Poems for Lent (6): ‘The Retreat,’ by Henry Vaughan

Poems for Lent (7): ‘Lent’ by Christina Rossetti

Poems for Lent (8): ‘Amen,’ by Leonard Cohen

Poems for Lent (9): ‘Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge,’ by John Betjeman

Poems for Lent (10): ‘The Absence,’ by RS Thomas

Poems for Lent (11): ‘Untitled (The Fallen Angels left all there),’ by Patrick Kavanagh

Poems for Lent (12): ‘Forest Song,’ by Sir Shane Leslie

Poems for Lent (13): ‘Evensong,’ by CS Lewis

Poems for Lent (14): ‘In the Street,’ by Winifred M Letts

Poems for Lent (15): ‘Desert Places,’ by Robert Frost

Poems for Lent (16): ‘Lenten Communion,’ by Katharine Tynan

Poem for Lent (17): ‘Autobiography,’ by Louis MacNeice

Poems for Lent (18): ‘Christians and Pagans,’ by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Poems for Lent (19): ‘Confession’ (‘O What a cunning guest’), by George Herbert

Poems for Lent (20): ‘Christ’s Bloody Sweat’ by Robert Southwell

Poems for Lent (21): ‘Holy Cross,’ by Sir Shane Leslie

Poems for Lent (22): ‘St Patrick’s Day with Neil,’ by Thomas McCarthy

Poem for Lent (23): ‘Sunday Morning,’ by Louis MacNeice

Poems for Lent (24): ‘Man of the House,’ by Katherine Tynan

Poems for Lent (25): ‘The Snowdrop Monument (in Lichfield Cathedral)’ by Jean Ingelow

Poems for Lent (26): ‘Mid-Lent,’ by Christina Rossetti

Poems for Lent (27): ‘I saw the Sun at Midnight,’ by Joseph Mary Plunkett

Poems for Lent (28): ‘Barnfloor and Winepress,’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Poems for Lent (29): ‘Here It Is,’ by Leonard Cohen

Poems for Lent (30): ‘Fifth Sunday In Lent’ by John Keble

Poems for Lent (31): ‘Annunciation,’ by John Donne

Poems for Lent (32): ‘What the Thunder said,’ from ‘The Waste Land’ by TS Eliot

Poems for Lent (33): ‘Affliction’ by George Herbert

Poems for Lent (34): ‘Julian at the Mysteries’ by CP Cavafy

Poems for Lent (35): ‘It is a thing most wonderful,’ by William Walsham How

Poems for Lent (36): ‘Batter my heart, three person’d God’ by John Donne

Poems for Lent (37): ‘The Donkey,’ by GK Chesterton

Poems for Lent (38): ‘Sonnet written in Holy Week at Genoa,’ by Oscar Wilde

Poems for Lent (39): ‘All in an April Evening,’ by Katharine Tynan

Poems for Lent (40): ‘I see His Blood Upon the Rose,’ by Joseph Mary Plunkett

Poems for Lent (41): ‘The Last Supper,’ by Ranier Maria Rilke

Poems for Lent (42): ‘Good Friday, 1613, Riding Westward,’ by John Donne

Poems for Lent (43): ‘Sepulchre,’ by George Herbert

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Note: We had previously compiled a list of 7 Easter poems posted by Patrick Comerford in 2012.

You’ll find all our Lent poem posts and resources here.  (Right now it’s a small collection, but I expect it to grow this Lent!).  I expect to soon break up the “Poems, Hymns and Songs” category into two or three separate categories to separate poetry from music.

“Something for the Feast” a poem by Teresa Roberts Johnson on the betrayal by Judas

Something for the Feast

With them you walked and closely held the purse,
The cunning one so trusted, yet so cursed.
Grave countenance to cover evil plans,
Imagining the coins in your hands,
You ate the bread, then lifted up your heel
To crush the One who offered you the meal.
Yes, quickly go into the dark of night
To make your deal; betray the One True Light.
For if you change your mind, the world is lost.
No other sacrifice can pay the cost.
Go, sell the perfect Lamb to the chief priest,
Obtaining what is needed for the Feast.
As your companions thought, your deeds secured
Provision for the poor, who had endured
The terrors of the one whose path you chose.
His plans the God of Heaven to oppose
Came to fruition on the bloody cross,
While deeper plans unraveled all his power.
He won and lost it all in that same hour.
There in the presence of our greatest foe
The feast was set and blessings overflow.

by Teresa Roberts Johnson, Copyright 2013

Go to Angliverse to read more of Teresa’s Holy Week poetry, and to read her notes on this poem.

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As we continue to think of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus today, you may also enjoy these devotionals:

• From the Biola Lent Project site (March 19): The Betrayal of Friends (with a musical excerpt from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion)
• From here at Lent & Beyond:  Betrayals (includes art & music)
• From the King’s English:  Betrayed with a Kiss, and 30 Pieces of Silver

And here are two other poems about Judas and his betrayal:

• Luci Shaw:  Judas, Peter
• George Marion McClellan:  The Feet of Judas

Poems for Holy Week

The poems in each section below are in somewhat random order.  I’ll probably work to reorganize them soon.  But in the meantime, here’s a good list of poesm for Holy Week (generally), Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Holy Saturday.  I’m posting a separate compilation of poems for Good Friday.

Note: for any of the entries from the Rev’d Patrick Comerford’s blog, you generally have to scroll down within the entry to find the poem, as each of his Lenten Poetry series also included background about the poet and reflection on the themes of the poem.

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1. General poems on Holy Week & Christ’s Passion

• The Passion, by George Herbert
• V. What the Thunder said by TS Eliot (from The Waste Land)
• Judas, Peter, by Luci Shaw
• Sonnet written in Holy Week at Genoa, by Oscar Wilde
• Barnfloor and Winepress, by Gerard Manley Hopkins
• I saw the Sun at Midnight, by Joseph Mary Plunkett
• Lenten Communion by Katharine Tynan
• In the Street, by Winifred M Letts
•  Hymn of Kassiani (9th Century – about the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet)
• Emily Polis Gibson:  The Flooded Path
• Emily Polis Gibson:  Love to the Loveless
• Emily Polis Gibson: Fiery and Sweet
• Emily Polis Gibson:  Barnstormed
• Teresa Roberts Johnson:  The Son Restored
• Teresa Roberts Johnson:  Heaven Scent
• Teresa Roberts Johnson:  Unto the Hills
• Teresa Roberts Johnson:  Pillar of Cloud
• Sonnets of the Cross, by Thomas S Jones Jr. (from Project Canterbury)  See Jerusalem (23)
• The Altar; or Meditations in Verse on the Great Christian Sacrifice, By Isaac Williams. (Project Canterbury)

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2. Palm Sunday:

• The Donkey, by GK Chesterton
• John Keble:  Palm Sunday
• Teresa Roberts Johnson:  The Witness
• Of the Donkey, by Mary Oliver
• Crying Out Loud, by Emily Polis Gibson

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 3. Maundy Thursday:

• The Last Supper, by Ranier Maria Rilke
• John Keble: Maundy Thurdsay
• Christ’s bloody sweat by Robert Southwell.
• Barnfloor and Winepress, by Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Bitter Herbs, by Teresa Roberts Johnson
• Leonard Cohen:  If it be your will.
• An Excerpt from Milton’s Paradise Lost for Maundy Thursday
• A Sonnet of Sweat, by Teresa Roberts Johnson
• Something for the Feast, by Teresa Roberts Johnson
• Laver of Life, by Teresa Roberts Johnson
• Gethsemane, by Mary Oliver
• The Feet of Judas, by George Marion McClellan (h/t this Barnstorming post)
• The Morsel, by Shelley A. Soceka
• Amy Carmichael:  The Fellowship of His Sufferings (Under the Olive Trees)

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 4. Good Friday: 

See our separate compilation of Good Friday poems, here.

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5. Holy Saturday:

• Sepulchre, by George Herbert
• John Keble:  Easter Eve
• Emily Polis Gibson:  Be Still and Wait
• Emily Polis Gibson: Great Gaps
• Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Truth of Holy Saturday: Only the wound is there
• Upon our Saviour’s Tomb, wherein never man was laid.
• Easter Night, Alice Meynell
• We Simply Have to Wait, John Harrell
• The Stones (excerpt), by Wendell Barry
• A Fitting Silence, Emily Polis Gibson

 

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See also our compilation of poems for Good Friday, as well as our more general post with poems for Lent and links to sites featuring liturgically-themed poetry.