This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is by Cynthia Erlandson.
Nocturnal Litany I
“From all malevolence the night employs….” – James Agee, Epithalamium
From all malevolence the night employs
To haunt our ragged hearts and weary brains
With bitterness that pulses through the veins
Of memory with its unrelenting noise;
From nightmare images that hover over us
Portending toxic days, Good Lord, deliver us.
.
From cynicism’s clamor that destroys
True faith; from dread that shadows sleep, or reigns
In dreams designed by doubt; from giving rein
To vexing fears, whose echoes hush the voice
Behind the burning bush, aflame and quiverous—
From fleeing holy ground, Good Lord, deliver us.
.
From vitriolic passions that disguise
Their venom as a balm while, serpentine,
They surge vindictively through every vein,
Convincing us that it will make us wise
To eat the fruit of malice that will wither us;
From all such deadly thoughts, Good Lord, deliver us.
.
Oh Lamb of God to whom all thoughts are bare,
All dark is light, accept our evening prayer.
.
From the author’s book, Notes on Time; poem originally published by The Society of Classical Poets.
Cynthia Erlandson is a poet and fitness professional. Her three collections are These Holy Mysteries, poems for the church year; Notes on Time, a tribute to the themes of time and music; and Foundations of the Cross and Other Bible Stories, which has been accepted for publication by Wipf and Stock. Her poems have appeared in The Book of Common Praise hymnal, First Things, The Society of Classical Poets, The Catholic Poetry Room, Modern Age, and elsewhere. She is a Top Four winner of the 2023 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest.
