A Protestant Attends a Funeral Mass
by Susan Delaney Spear
I’ve never met the man inside the coffin,
never shook his hand or clinked a glass
across a table. Yet here I am, bending
into ritual. I whisper well-traveled
words: valleys, shadows, banquets.
A priest sprinkles water on the casket,
smooths a pall on top. I acquaint
myself with this ritual of grief.
Bells jangle. Startled, I stand.
Kneel. Stand. Sit. What are the gifts?
Ah, the host, the water, and the wine.
Two grandsons give them to the priest. Another
reads the liturgy. The eulogy:
His daughter says a Little League Coach.
His friend chokes out humble. One son,
my colleague and the reason I am here,
says, my father, my father was a prince.
The congregation sings, the thin priest gives
the censer three swings. And then one more.
The frankincense burns like love, floats up
like prayer. We send him on his way.
Susan Delaney Spear is an Associate Professor of English at Colorado Christian University. She is the author of Beyond All Bearing, a collection of poems, and co-author of Learning the Secrets of English Verse, a creative writing/poetry textbook. You can find her at susandelaneyspear.com.
