National Poetry Month 2018
After Vespers by John Gibson
The mist calls them forth
from Vespers into evening.
Prayers echo like bells,
rising like incense before them.
Brother Anselm hums Hodie
holding tones with his breath.
Together they pray, again and again
invoking blessings, psalms, forgiveness
for a world in peril, a world outside the mist,
a world released from her sins.
Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace.
Commentary:
This drawing is set at St. Joseph’s Abbey near Covington, LA. where my father’s best childhood friend, Billy, was a Benedictine monk. Brother Anselm, as he was named in the Abbey, is the short one in the drawing. I remember fondly visiting him there. He was a musician, organist and cantor, so I can imagine him humming after the service. He also had a hilarious, ironic wit that I couldn’t capture in this poem. Brother Anselm died a few years ago, but his spirit lives on in the music of St. Joseph’s Abbey.
Reflections on the Teche 
I love his art and your poems. Be Anselm and I loved together as Benedictine monks for 17 yrs.
What a joy to have known him. Bless you.
It’s a loving memory in the picture and in your poem, Margaret. I enjoy reading your response, that “Prayers echo like bells,
rising like incense before them.”
I saw your father’s drawing on Twitter–recognized whose it was as soon as it flashed up in my feed… and it took my breath away. And then I clicked over here to read your poem. I was not disappointed! I love your first two couplets. And… I think you must write a poem just to capture and immortalize Brother Anselm’s “hilarious, ironic wit.”
The poem fits the picture beautifully, drawing me in to walk with the monks. Thanks for letting us know about Brother Anselm, too!