leonardcohenforum.com

Cathedral Bells
I
On the quarter hour they peal an ancient
Pulse of power through this midland town.
How once we measured fair and market days
As well as rosaries and our daily Mass.

But now, irrelevant and forgotten,
A mere quaint reminder of the hour when
Chasuble and incense floated into
Our particular imaginations -

Here comforting, there terrorizing,
A ritual blessed with grace and a truth,
A ritual ossified to scruples etched,
A conscience formed and a conscience denied.

II
But what quarter bell now sounds its peal and
Pulse to become embedded in the air,
yet again condemned and discredited?

What diligences do we invest lest
Self forgetfulness and absorption maim
The rage and scream against the new torment?

Why allow those powers yet again deny:
that the tree has a leaf to a branch it
must trust that to the root it is tied.

Jimmy - I think that not being Catholic or Irish makes this piece a bit hazy for me. What I do get from it though, is a sense of change and a loss of tradition and community.

Cate,
You don't need to be Catholic or Irish... it's about loss of what is good in tradition yet anger at misuse of power... yet new power forms/structures will take over and do the same damage to community unless we fail to heed lessons...

Jimmy O'Connell wrote:Cate,
You don't need to be Catholic or Irish... it's about loss of what is good in tradition yet anger at misuse of power... yet new power forms/structures will take over and do the same damage to community unless we fail to heed lessons...

I agree with you Jimmy but have to believe that there are enough people to keep the flame alive and that we will not throw out the baby with the bath water.