“The Monastic Republic of Arkansas”

 

Rivers and streams of water

Sparkling like clear crystals

Amid rolling hills clothed in grass

And trees emerald-green,

Fountains seeping from solid

Mountain sides, as if struck

By the rod of Moses,

Birdsong alone the hushed

Stillness breaking that rests

Blithely upon the whole –

Some Adamic soul who

Possessed deeper vision

Named the Natural State

Rightly.  Her beauty is

Both pristine and profound,

But she has not yet fulfilled

Her God-given purpose.

She waits for the rhythmic

Sounding of the semantron

Early in the dusky dawn,

The rich voice of ringing bells

Nestled in their towers,

Prayers and psalms read and sung

At every hour of the day,

For Eucharistic bread and wine

Consecrated on holy altars,

Pentecost re-enacted,

The Holy Ghost descending

And filling every mite

Of matter with the flames

Of sanctifying Grace,

For the Jesus Prayer

Whispered and sighed from lips

Of angelic hesychasts

As knees softly touch the floor

Inside of cells or upon

The soft soil of the earth

Beneath the brilliant blue sky,

 . . .

The rest is at https://southernorthodox.org/the-monastic-republic-of-arkansas/.

--

Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!