Blessed Is The Man 1969 Poem by Terry Collett

Beato l'uomo
che non cammina
nel consiglio
degli empi,

Dom Frederick worked beside me
in the abbey gardens
the sunlight above us
in the April air
and I musing on life there
and how each day after day
the routine the same,

ni se dresse
sur le chemin
des pécheurs,

the bell tower
orange brickwork
and Islamic in design
but Benedictine in order
and prayer and I standing there
taking in the sight,

ni se sienta
en el asiento
del despreciativo,

the cloisters at evening
before Vespers
the square sky darkening
where the cloister walls
give shape of sky,

beatus vir,

blessed is the man
who doesn't walk
in the ways
of the ungodly ones
Dom John had said
quoting the first Psalm
that evening
before supper,

nor stands with sinners
nor sits with those
who scorn he added
gazing at me
through his old eyes,

derisorum non
sedit tegentibus,

after Compline
I climbed the stairs to my room
and to read before bed
the plainsong going around
like a prayer in my head.
© 40 minutes ago, Terry Collett