Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (trad.)

"O Virgin Pure"


O Virgin pure, immaculate, O Lady Theotokos, O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
O fleece bedewed with every grace, O Virgin Queen and Mother, O rejoice ...
More Radiant than the rays of sun, and higher than the heavens O rejoice ...
O joy of virgin choruses, superior to angels sic.
O brighter than the firmament, and purer than the sun's light,
More holy than the multitude of all the heavenly armies,

O ever virgin Mary, of all the world the Lady, O rejoice Bride unwedded!
O Bride all pure, immaculate, O Lady Panagia,
O Mary, Bride and Queen of all, the cause of our rejoicing,
O noble Maiden, gracious Queen, supremely holy Mother,
More honored than the cherubim, beyond compare, more glorious,
Than the unbodied Seraphim, transcending the angelic Thrones,

Rejoice the sons of Cherubim; rejoice, the hymn of angels, O rejoice, Bride unwedded!
Rejoice, the ode of Seraphim, the joy of the archangels,
Rejoice, O peace and happiness, and haven of salvation,
O sacred chamber of the Word, the flower of incorruption,
Rejoice, delightful Paradise of blessed life eternal,
Rejoice, O sacred Tree of life and fount of immortality,

I supplicate you, Lady, now; I fervently entreat you,
O Queen of all, I earnestly implore and seek your favor,
O gracious Maiden, spotless one, O Lady Panagia,
I call upon you ardenly, O holy, hallowed Temple,
O help me and deliver me; protect me from the enemy,
And make me an inheritor of blessed life eternal,

~traditional Eastern Rite hymn~

pass the mic

*random quotes and reflections *

a man doesn't like to feel right from the beginning that he's like piece of cloth that a woman is going to cut up and sew according to how they're wearing husbands this year. -guys and dolls

desire nothing, accept everything. -st. teresa of avila

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air ...
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
-eliot, ash wednesday

i offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn -dylan

it soon will be sunrise but i still haven't slept lying awake and alone you've set me free from my prison of memory now that you've killed me maybe i can live again abandon the quicksand of my own stubborn will i'm sure you'll be happy where i failed so completely all your words were a farce and the joke is on me but i'll hold up my head and laugh loudest of all and i'll bow to the wind as it blows me away from all i've held dear starting over again and i have no more tears now for what could have been

Did you not then believe, old mole, that these two things alone are real, loving and dying, and since one is so much like the other and there is so little of the one, in the end there remained only the other?
silence.
-walker percy, the second coming

i ought not to have loved you. 'twas wrong of me to do so, and even more wrong to be so loyal.

Then must you speak of one who loved not wisely but too well. -shakespeare, othello

Still Hope, breathing peace, through the grief-swollen breast
Will whisper, "Our meeting we yet may renew":
With this dream of deceit, half our sorrow's represt,
Nor taste we the poison, of Love's last adieu!

-George Gordon, Lord Byron
who married Annabella Milbanke, a woman to whom he was not attracted nor in love. it was a deliberate and twisted attempt to curb his voracious lust, especially for his half-sister, Augusta Leigh. he had one of his illegitimate daughters, Allegra, educated in convents because Byron said that if any religion at all was true, it would be Catholicism.

When planets run around and around in circles, we say they are orbiting. When people do it, we say they are crazy.
Water is composed of two gins. Oxygin and hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is gin and water.
A census taker is a man who goes from house to house increasing the population.
A virgin forest is a forest where the hand of man has never set foot.
~anonymous~

dreamin' about those days when i was
lovin' you was like lovin' a fifth of the finest bourbon
-martin sexton

Let nothing disturb thee;
Let nothing dismay thee;
All things pass;
God never changes.
Patience obtains all that it strives for;
He who has God wants nothing;
God alone suffices.
-St. Teresa of Avila

"positively 4th street" or singing other cruel dylan songs in this general direction

if the gravagna photos were ti piace, you can thank the hatkes.

it ain't me, babe

free at last ... it was all a farce after all, and the joke is on me, but i will be the punchline if it means freedom from memory and intuition and those insidious hopes one cannot ever quite stamp out. at any rate, i can breathe again so i suppose i should think about packing. more on this later. in the meanwhile, one of the funniest things ever for your viewing pleasure.

quelqu'un m'a dit

preferring the old Mass, and for Ascension Thursday to be, well, on thursday, i hied myself to DC for Solemn High Mass, which always leaves me feeling exposed and vulnerable ... getting home rather late and still feeling raw of soul and bruised of heart, i pulled out my o. henry collection and let the book do as it would. it opened to a story about destiny, in which three alternate endings are given. in different scenarios, for different reasons and in different ways, the main character ends up being killed by the gun of some sadistic marquis. i am not sure that our *destiny*, if such a thing truly exists, is truly so inescapable, but things being as they are, i cannot help but wonder.

speaking of sadistic, regarding murder in the cathedral being meant to entertain the audience, one of my students said, "When someone it dragged against their will by others I cannot help smiling when I picture it." (sic)

Someone said to me that our lives are pretty worthless
They pass in an instant just like roses wilt
Someone said to me that time that slips away is a bastard
Who takes our sorrows to make overcoats for himself …
Someone said to me that fate makes fun of us
That it gives us nothing and promises us everything
It seems like happiness is within our grasp
So we reach out to grab it and find that we’ve gone mad
~carla bruni

gravagna

i am going here in july.

the good life

I must go down to the sea again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife:
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trip's over.

-John Masefield

what is the flavour of love?

when the worst has happened, there is nothing left to fear. how do you survive the destruction of dreams? find new ones, naturally. dear long-suffering friends have reminded me that it is okay if you feel your hands are tied, because Christ's were, also. i am reminded, too, that Christianity is the only religion whose God does not command anything that He has not already done to an infinitely greater degree. there is no law or rule for which He has not given us the example. love and suffering are the same. to love is to suffer, and all our loves must be redeemed and refined by suffering. ultimately, everything always comes down to love. love, then, is jeremiah's scroll: like honey to the tongue but bitter in the stomach. the question is not are you willing to love, but are you willing to suffer?

- Eliot, "Gerontion"

broadway like never before

apparently a flock of brilliant fellows hailing from angleterra have done brilliant things with monty python's quest for the holy grail. all i can say is i bow in admiration. bow, not genuflect ... but liturgical matters make for poor blog reading. in the meantime, dredged up this little thing for what is hopefully your pleasure.

i sat quietly this morning
with your love inside of me
burning and bursting and swelling
pulsing consuming.
i gloried in each embrace
and let each sensation weave and twine
as sun and shadow, wood and fire.
for a moment, i did not
remember
i am alone
and you are gone.

deep south

after having been forcefully instructed several times, i finally obtained a copy of william alexander percy's memoirs, lanterns on the levee. being a staunch proponant of walker percy, i was nonetheless unprepaired for this second cousin of his. it is the sort of book that absorbs you, pulling you in until the stark 21st century reality is as far away as it was in 1940-something. right now i am saturated with southern eloquence and elegance. i always suspected the south had something on the "damyankees," and now i know why. i highly recommend it: both the south and the book.

ice cream kisses

sitting on the couch, movie over, long drive, long weekend, you're in love with me and i'm pretty damn sure i love you too and minty chocolate cold goodness and my apartment so quiet and calm and cool after the long hot windy car-ride and roller-coaster weekend and you wanted me then. such safety and security and peace and i fit so nicely in your arms and this is my favourite.

because the kiss was like that, too: safe and calm and quiet and giving. "let me give you this because i love you; i am giving you because i love you." such complete tranquility and selflessness and disbelieving shy pride.

long kiss strong and sure and gentle. mint-chocolate still in my mouth and cool tongues all the time in the world to share this kiss and this moment and your love and my acceptance. passion's intensity controlled and content with this sweet sharing. no pleasure seeking satiation, no taking or burning or searching, but resting and here is my soul: i will let you kiss my soul.

masquerade

perhaps you are wondering at the random ballerina purporting to be me. wishful thinking only. i have spent most of my life staring at ballerinas, wishing my body could accomplish such impossible-looking feats with such apparent ease. i am looking forward, however, to being able to post *real* photos--and real posts, instead of stolen minutes from work.

speaking of which, i submitted an official resignation letter yesterday: freedom is within my grasp! i delivered the letter to the hr director, and he said with jealousy, "congratulations." ah, the bliss of unemployment ...

which will not be lasting long--i'll be moving up to michigan the first weekend in june, where i'll be working part time at my dad's office as a medical receptionist and a couple nights a week at a gift shop in a rehab center. so one *motif* in my life, of pot-heads and alcoholics, continues. don't worry, daddy, i'm still sober ...

capitulation to modernity

so it has come to this. i do not pretend my life is any more interesting than anyone else's, but, like apparently so many others, i feel the urge to redeem myself from anonymity. also i thought that since i shall be miles away from everyone before too much longer, this would be a handy way to keep y'all updated. (look at that! a southern accent has even crept into my writing. this is indeed cause for alarm.)

it will take me a while to figure out this thing, and to get it looking fun and tidy. in the meantime, i owe the name of my little corner of hyperspace to these ladies.