Good one, Roxygirl!
I wrote this one today, reflecting a stanza on each verse of Psalm 148. It took 3 hours to work out the themes.
Laudate Dominum de caelis;
laudate eum in excelsis.
Sing ALLELUIA from the halls
of golden heaven, God’s high realm;
and echo forth with trumpet-calls
that blinding glory at the helm!
Laudate eum, omnes angeli eius;
laudate eum, omnes virtutes eius.
Sing ALLELUIA, angel hosts,
with roaring voice; ambassadors
and heralds, whose great message boasts
of Heaven’s hearth and Earth’s bright shores.
Laudate eum, sol et luna;
laudate eum, omnes stellae lucentes.
Sing ALLELUIA, sun and moon:
of generosity, of light,
of splendor changing shadows’ gloom,
to spite the fear of darkened night.
*
Laudate eum, caeli caelorum
et aquae omnes, quae super caelos sunt.
*
Sing ALLELUIA falling rain,
whose gentle pouring makes us vim,
replenishing the sparkling main
of bounteous waters filled to brim.
Laudent nomen Domini,
quia ipse mandavit, et creata sunt;
Sing ALLELUIA to the Name
which whispers through eternity,
who gives the nucleus its frame,
and radiant stars, paternity.
statuit ea in aeternum et in saeculum saeculi;
praeceptum posuit, et non praeteribit.
*
Sing ALLELUIA to the Liege
whose loving care does not decline;
whose Fiat death cannot besiege,
nor fading of the light malign.
*
Laudate Dominum de terra,
dracones et omnes abyssi,
Sing ALLELUIA even you
that slither in the gaping maw;
whom highest Beauty can’t renew
yet still were made to praise, in awe.
ignis, grando, nix, fumus,
spiritus procellarum, qui facit verbum eius,
Sing ALLELUIA, elements
of fire, of hail, of winds that race
and crash against our battlements,
that we may solely trust God’s grace.
montes et omnes colles,
ligna fructifera et omnes cedri,
Sing ALLELUIA, mountain-top,
and vineyard-planted hill; whose sights
are joy to patient eyes which stop
to hail your lofty, arbor’d heights.
bestiae et universa pecora,
serpentes et volucres pennatae.
Sing ALLELUIA fowl and beasts
who nurse your young and hunt for game;
munificent is God, whose feasts
suffice for man and faun the same.
Reges terrae et omnes populi,
principes et omnes iudices terrae,
Sing ALLELUIA, kings of all,
and low-born needy child as well,
you princes, judges, poor: recall
that He has come to reign and dwell.
iuvenes et virgines,
senes cum iunioribus
Sing ALLELUIA innocents,
who know not swords nor clash of shields,
nor death; and elders, who dispense
old wisdom from the well-tilled fields.
laudent nomen Domini,
quia exaltatum est nomen eius solius.
Sing ALLELUIA to the Lord,
whose love is blue Earth’s glorious guide;
whose slightest creature is a hoard,
the treasury of Heaven’s pride.
*
Magnificentia eius super caelum et terram,
et exaltavit cornu populi sui.*
Sing ALLELUIA, ever, thus!
Adorn the Cosmos and Earth’s bounds,
for God gives fullest health to us
to tend and steward all His grounds.
Hymnus omnibus sanctis eius,
filiis Israel, populo, qui propinquus est ei.
Sing ALLELUIA little ones,
for all the ages, hymns and songs;
for you are each adopted sons.
The Lord unites your ancient throngs.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto,
sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum.
Sing ALLELUIA to our God
who — one high Father, Son, and breath
of life, the Spirit — rules abroad
in every age: who knows not death.
Amen.
