Ascension, No. 1
by Peter Menkin


There is a church service of prayer--
sing.
Evening Prayer that festival day;
we came as pilgrims in an expectation
of a divine celebration. Grace.

Enter into the liturgy. Celebrate God.
This dialogue in prayer and word.
Song.


Oh, that he did rise--it was a hymn.
When the Lord rose, He Ascended.
Imagination, I was.

Inspiration.
As melodious beautiful voices,
a man ascending in this beauty.
Of the beauty.

Making the beauty, bringing with Him
the perfected human nature of this world.
This is celebration.
Divine.


God's gift.
Man as a being of humanity.
God's gift of celebration.
Humanity.

Man and the divine.
Mystery.
This is the Christ.

Photograph by Rick White (Bird of Paradise, Wanshishan Botanical Gardens, Xiamen, Fujian China). Rick is 76 years old, has 9 children, 20 grandchildren and lives in Mill Valley, California USA.

Ascension, No. 2
by Peter Menkin

I have wondered
about the Ascension
weeks after hearing
the singing in the Cathedral
rising to the sacred.

I went that unusual day,
we walked the Labrynth first.

Perhaps I need more time
on my knees.
Is it real?

Is it Easter or the Holy Spirit?

There is a kind of torture
In the mystery of it. Christ.
Worship.

Why do they make the pews
so difficult, like torture
to kneel in –
at the Cathedral
kneeling boxes
near where the reader reads
the Gospel?

He ascended, in beauty.

This mystery continues,
The rising to heaven, the manifestation.

I have been here before.
Ecstacy. Religious.

There were hours
last year
when I looked up
from my knees in prayer
and angels came;
or were they women
of faith, men of belief?
They were angels.

I think Mary came,
one night.
Or was it an Anglican Nun in prayer
whom I have not met;
her prayer visited me.
Maybe it was my friend
at Church.

Was it Spirit or man?
Questions.

These poems, written at different times, reflect on a trip to Grace Cathedral with a friend in the year 2000. No. 1 was written in 2008, No. 2 was written in 2000 and revised in 2008.