Choral Therapy Poem by Diana van den Berg

I had to turn the sound down
to make a short call
to reassure myself
of my beloved son’s safety,
and having done that,
turned it up again

and your pure, rich, choral liquid
poured again into my soul
and flooded every atom of my being
and for a while
the heart-rupturing loss of
the precious cat
across the ocean
and dog round the corner
and my own Heavenly horse, cat and dog,
became less severe
and they were all
smiling down on me and my Earthly cat and dog,
and licking and nuzzling my face,
and whispering love in the ears of Cleo and Benji

and my shoulders
broke their brace
of iron
and slipped into place
and my head unclenched
and I lay back
against your cloud cushion of grace
and perhaps a whisper of a smile
spread across my face
and your Zulu angel voices
sustained this magic
and in the moments between the songs
I breathed
ready for the next application of balm

and when it was all over
I sat motionless for a while
and then went about my day
carrying your gift
in my memory
and my aching heart.

Thank You, God.
Your timing was perfect –
as though You didn’t know that, softly lol!

If all the world could hear simultaneously
this bubbling stream of pure perfection
it would wash away
crime and hatred and bitterness
and subterfuge and vengeance
and duplicity and greed
and selfishness and arrogance
and emotional ignorance and spite
for much longer than
this choral therapy.

(11 May 2013)