Requiem Aeternam

by Tate Pumfrey

Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord,

Who now ascend the ladder laced in light

Perpetual. That day of tears, of fright,  

Of mourning, mounts before these souls who ford

Across the hidden hem of time toward

That shore immortal. Christ, you did delight

In calling Lazarus from death to life,

Now call those souls departed to your court.

From dust God wove the cloth of Adam’s frame 

And unto dust that fabric frays, unwound 

By fruit forbidden. Felix culpa, death,

Destroyed on Calvary, bows to that Name

Above all names, and man, at last unbound, 

Returns to Eden as he cedes his breath.