LISTEN TO THE SILENCE
Last Night of Christ
Darkness is not the absence of light
It is something more uncontrollable and sinister
It is not a place but a chasm
We've all been there
at least once
More than once
And though we could not see or hear You
You were there
Waiting
'Cause the darkness isn't dark for you
at least not always.
You cried.
But not for the pain of others
but why should you have left.
We couldn't understand it
or we didn't want to
or both
The impending darkness was too deep for us to grasp.
But so was the light.
One had to proceed, the other
It has always been like this from the beginning.
Tears flowed from Your eyes and then from ours
before every light went out.
Time itself wanted to die with You
You told us it would be like this
Not with your words
but with your own life
A man full of pain who knows suffering
We didn't want to see
We looked away
so we have satisfied your true essence:
The one in front of whom anyone hides their face
THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS
GOSPEL OF JOHN 1:5
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was, in the beginning, with God:
Everything was done through him
and without him nothing has been made of what exists.
In him was life
and life was the light of men;
The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness did not overcome it.
LET THE LIGHT BE
BIBLE
GENESIS 1-5
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Now the earth was formless and deserted, and darkness covered the abyss
and the spirit of God hovered over the waters.
God said, "Let there be light!"
And the light there was.
God saw that light was good and separated light from darkness
DAY AND NIGHT
PSALM 19 1:6
The heavens tell of the glory of God and the firmament declares the Work of his hands.
One day he speaks words to another, and one night he reveals knowledge to the next.
They have no speech, no words; their voice is not heard;
but their harmony spreads throughout the earth and their message reaches the ends of the world; in heaven God has pitched a tent for the sun;
and he is like a bridegroom who comes out of his wedding chamber, rejoices like a brave man who walks his way.
It rises from one end of the heavens, and its circle reaches the other end; nothing is hidden from its warmth.
THE CLOTH
I was taken forcefully, by the shelf, those who brought me with them ran.
I was unrolled with trembling hands.
Suddenly a body was placed on me, the body of a man.
I was then folded into him. It was an atrocious moment.
I, a light and delicate piece of cloth, found myself clinging to a dirty body as blood penetrated my fabric.
I felt the bones pushing against me,
I felt lacerations and wounds becoming mine.
I was like that body: tortured.
It was a terrible night.
Suddenly I felt a very strong heat,
A light flooded me
For a moment everything was white, light,
and the marks and injuries suffered have become part of me.
It was a moment, then dark, again.
I felt leaning on the stone where, until a moment before,
I enveloped that body.
But that body was no longer there.
The stone that sealed the tomb moved, I saw it move,
and the light entered.
LISTEN TO THE SILENCE
Listen to the Silence
My words are sparks,
bursting from a glowing ember,
hands reaching out
in the final spasm of light.
My words are skeletons
of wings buried in quartz skies.
Listen to the silence,
now that the bustle has become flesh,
of your flesh expanded in a whisper,
exhaled into shivering air.
No longer does your voice echo,
chirping and croaking,
lost to sound.
ASCOLTA IL SILENZIO
Gianni Mazzetti
DANTE
DIVINE COMEDY
CANTO V - Verse 105
love, that exempts no one
beloved from loving
seized me with pleasure of this
man so strongly
that, as you seest, it doth not
yet desert me
DANTE
DIVINE COMEDY
PARADISE CANTO XXXIII
The high imagination here lacked power;
but already turned my desire and my fleece,
as a wheel that is equally moved,
the love that moves the sun and the other stars.
