Desmond Kon

the difference of sound

“A beautiful homily, a genuine sermon must begin with the first proclamation, 

with the proclamation of salvation. There is nothing more solid, deep and sure 

than this proclamation. Then you have to do catechesis.”  ~ Pope Francis

What did I think to myself 

that last morning,

that last morning I remember

as if a faraway wedge 

of wharfage?

Sound feels like that today.

Sounds feel, 

like that day—do they really,

or did that just sound right?

To position a line,

placement 

and placemat on page.

Sound.

Its interiority

a kind of evanescence,

according to another book

already open to an opportune page.

Sound—

what manner of conversation 

is its conversation

with eternal time?

The homily has started its litany of sounds.

This morning, as with each morning, respite of consolations.

a reference point

Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  

~ Matthew 11:28

I kiss the top of my holy bible, lips against leather, along edge.

I am writing again, and the squall has settled.

Into restful night.

Oh, the silence. The breathless, the stormless.

The pastoral is writing itself out, like an open field.

Did it state atonement, 

as if already steadied and preparatory? 

(Yes, I said atonement, the second life of penance.)

Yes, yes. 

A promise repeated so many times

—in admonition, at times, to make stark. 

Like stature, of holy relic.

A reminder suggested, to self and story.

Desmond Francis Xavier Kon  Zhicheng-Mingdé (b. 1971) is an author from Singapore. He loves reading theology and poetry. He teaches creative writing at Nanyang Technological University. He can be found at: desmondkon.com