Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, KAHALA ANGELUS, by LLOYD STONE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

KAHALA ANGELUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Once a week / (I think it's tuesday)
Last Line: Could come from such an earthy building.
Subject(s): Hawaii


Once a week
(I think it's Tuesday)
Just after sundown,
While there's still a glow over Diamond Head,
When the mynah birds
Are chattering their last goodnights
In the kiawe trees outside my door,
I hear a bell.

It comes in low, mournful soughs
That drift over the mellow landscape
Like mist in still air.
It chants in a deep bass
And swells to a high, rich timber;
Then lingeringly, regretfully, ebbs away...
And swells again... and ebbs...

They say it is the call to worship
From the little Buddhist Temple
That squats by Farmer's Road,
And, but for the inscription
Made of curious crosses, dots and dashes
Strewn across the facade of the building,
It is just another farmhouse
Melting into the earth and gardens.

And tomorrow in the sunlight,
When I pass the little temple,
I shall remember those celestial sounds
That lingered over all Kahala,
And wonder how such heavenly music
Could come from such an earthy building.





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