CHRISTMAS 2017

"and the angels sang"

I'm not a believer anymore

but last night

I heard angels sing.

Usually

I hear them in birdsong

or feel them in a stirring breeze

or see them in a starry sky.

But last night

they were in a cathedral,

all grey sandstone

ornate woodwork

and stained glass ,

made flat and colourless

against the night sky outside.

Not my usual choice

any more

for sensing

sense beyond mind,

for experiencing

manifestations of deity.

But I felt …

uplifted,

elevated,

transformed;

no longer the unbeliever

that I've become.

Every valley shall be exalted,

a virgin shall conceive,

the eyes of the blind shall be opened …

"Hallelujah!"

The voices soared

to the arches above,

hung on the still spring air,

and reached

into the very soul

of my being.

No!

I'm not a believer anymore

but last night

I heard angels sing.

Reflection on hearing the Adelaide Chamber Singers "Messiah" in St.Peter's Cathedral - November 2017.