In The Heavens There Is A Cross Poem by Emmanuel George Cefai

Greetings, Emmanuel When my twin sister and I were children, our family prayed the rosary outloud several times a week. They were influenced by a campaign sponsored by the Catholic bishops that announced THE FAMILY THAT PRAYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER. I guess it worked because despite the expected problems of family life, our family stayed closely tied together. And so your poem with its evocation of a stellar rosary above us and enveloping us portrayed this sentiment on a much larger stage. I was also reminded of a beautiful image of the night sky in James Joyce's ULYSSES. Just as Homer's original involves the loving reunion of father and son, so Joyce's version climaxes when Leopold Bloom finds a surrogate son in Stephen Daedalus, and Stephen a surrogate father in Bloom. They look into the night sky in perfect calm and witness what the narrator calls THE HEAVENTREE OF STARS HUNG WITH NIGHTBLUE FRUIT. I love that image, its cosmic perspective makes me feel both energized and humble.