Perceval almost pierced the veil,
never uttered a Christ-laced curse.
Purity of heart is to will one thing,
wrote Kierkegaard before the churchyards
turned charnel houses in excruciated Europe.
Was it a Lapis Exilis, mother meteorite,
or a lapis lazuli dish set with wished-
for cuts of fresh meat in a famine culture,
or a cup that caught the red of revelation?
Chrétien de Troyes recounted the trials,
but I trust no poet pimping a tale.
I figure the Grails were detours en route
to a single failure, and all this suffering
night after night in shining ardor,
in rosary-haunted Brocéliande,
just served to stir the gallant heart
of a Galahad to attempt and test
truth by joust, pursuing the relic, the elixir
on a pilgrim trail to the impossible castle.
As a bony boy, a squirt of a squire,
I imagined its magic in verbal terms,
an infinite inkwell, a song Sangraal,
heartsblood held in the mouth’s round
brimmed, overbrimmed, meniscal cupola.
Wondering whether my words were worthy.
I sallied forth in search of a form,
May the poem, grasped and penned, be the Grail
sustaining hearts healed for a spell,
fed in their hunger not heavenly manna
but humbly kneaded human bread.
The Grail Quest
More: Poetry
Show Comments ()
The latest from america
Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who spearheaded the three-year National Eucharistic Revival, said, “I felt a great fullness of God, one I prayed that everyone would be filled with.”
On this episode of “Preach,” Ricardo reflects on his experience attending the congress and the rich tapestry of preaching styles he experienced while there.
I’m interested in Chappell Roan because the culture has interest in her and because she’s a very talented, intelligent young artist.
Would you believe that there’s a Jesuit rom-com? It sounds like a joke, but that is a fairly accurate description of “Crossroads,” a 2006 film written and directed by Murray Robinson.