73

In Love Street there is the Church of the Sacred Vine
Where the master of ceremonies pours out wine,

And breaks the bread of the Message of Truth and Love:
God alone is, and in him all things live and move.

The altar candles burst into flame at his word,
Revealing the picture of Christ with Lamb and Sword.

(But others see Krishna Playing Flute under Tree,
Or Noah in Ark Riding the Waves Wild and Free.)

The worshippers pay for the holy drink and food
With heads on platters and hearts surrendered for good.

The singer adorns God’s throat with a rope of pearls,
And the dancers foot it to a bag-piper’s skirls.

The Master pours out a second round of red wine,
And on his dear John’s breast his lovely head reclines.

 

Great festivities within the tavern. It is the place for a sacramental and sacrificial feast. His word reveals the heart of the divine mystery: the divine in the human, the God-Man, the essential and central symbol, the Christ, Krishna, and also Noah as a symbolic figure of salvation. Acts17:28 says “For in him we live and move and have our being”. This is the sacramental truth which is referred to in Stanza 2.

The bread and wine and the reclining apostle create the presence of the Last Supper.

The wine is the intimacy of love, poured out by the God-Man, a living message to make lives a song of praise .John, the writer of the gospel of love, reclines on His breast.

‘Heads on platters’: giving away of mind, giving it as part of the sacrificial meal as well as suggesting the death of John the Baptist.

‘Skirl’: the shrill wail of the bagpipes with their stirring lament and battle cry.

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