Recitative: Behold, I Tell You a Mystery

June 15, 2015 By

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“Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” – 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

This CD is full of digitally remastered recordings, trust me.
That mausoleum is long-since emptied, trust me.

I unfolded the jewel case, put it in the black deck, and pressed play.
I clamped on the headphones. I could no longer breathe.

Oh, music! Oh, America! Oh, blow! Oh, blow! Oh, buss me
With that puckered mouth, with that brass daffodil!

(Photo credit: Michael Mandiberg, Flickr)

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About the Contributor

Anne Babson

Anne Babson
Anne Babson's work has appeared in Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought, Christianity and Literature, Windhover, Dappled Things, The Penwood Review, and other journals of interest to Christians. She has organized literary readings, taught a writing workshop on writing poetry as a spiritual meditative practice and is currently teaching a course at a on how to write a Christian memoir. Her book, Poems Under Surveillance (2013), is published by Finishing Line Press and her first full-length collection, The White Trash Pantheon, will be published this year by Vox Press. 

Comments

  1. Dale Smith says:
    June 15, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    Is something missing? Or am I missing something? This post is like an unresolved chord. I recognize the recitative from Handel’s Messiah, of course. But don’t get the mausoleum reference; reference to the recordings in their original format? Reference to the performers? And the paean-finale? I’m OCD about classical music, and have as fervent a gospel for it as I do the Gospel. But I’m puzzled. Am I over-analyzing?

    Reply
  2. Anne Babson says:
    June 26, 2015 at 1:25 am

    Dear Dale Smith,

    This particular piece of writing wrestles with how technology might engender a type of eternal life.

    While most certainly a comment on American music and a reference to Handel’s Messiah Oratorio, it engages the scripture in a manner that departs from Handel toward an idea of the joy of music as an art form that transcends the natural human life span.

    Hope that answers your questions — Anne Babson

    Reply
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    July 7, 2018 at 10:02 pm

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