This night
Patrick T. Reardon
“Worthy alone to know the
time and hour” — Exsultet, Easter Vigil
Just and right, ardent. Debt paid, blood washed.
This feast, this night — from enslavement.
Behind, in front of the fire pillar, past the salt pillar,
Samson’s pillars, the pillars of the Temple, veil torn,
dry land across the sea until the water walls fall,
legs broken on both crosses.
This happy night of Wisdom, Lucy follows to the Door
Post Tap, elbowed into an alley corner off center.
Inside, no light, yet each who enters sees as if at noon,
as if amid countless bell tolls out on Ecclesiastes Road.
Get happy.
This happy night of the coming of the thief, the thieves.
Rapture soon, final coming. Look busy. Look business.
Strictly business.
Off-key at Washington and Michigan, to the rhythm
of seven stained white empty five-gallon paint cans,
each a glorious virtue, Hambone sings the Servant Song,
including the verse of enslavement, usually excised,
including the upstairs/downstairs verse. Jack of Lent
has testified, and his testimony is true.
Say it again: Rejoice!
Sweat and blood. The chalice of blood equity. Bile
and bitter herbs.
This is the night of the howl of the self-dead at the
moment of the trigger. My brother in rain-snow.
Our hen mother — true mother — abundant breasts,
tender arms, comfort. The four-letter name.
Clap along.
From gloom to grace, down and through and into
and above and beyond the end. Child of the
Century meditates and discerns.
O care! O wonder! O happy fault, dazzling, blazing.
Night as day, glad sadness. Innocence and concord.
Work of bees, work of hands. Mother bee, torch of
flame. One and many fires, incense and aroma.
The proper motion of Morning Star, Queen of Heaven,
Centauri, Groombridge, Lynx, Crux, Hyena.
Center of mass of every thing.
Patrick T. Reardon
3.24.26
This poem initially appeared at Amethyst Review on Holy Saturday, 4.4.26.
Written by : Patrick T. Reardon
For more than three decades Patrick T. Reardon was an urban affairs writer, a feature writer, a columnist, and an editor for the Chicago Tribune. In 2000 he was one of a team of 50 staff members who won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Now a freelance writer and poet, he has contributed chapters to several books and is the author of Faith Stripped to Its Essence. His website is https://patricktreardon.com/.