Last of the 35 Lockdown Sonnets from Hong Kong.
Sonnet 252-253. Transubstantiation. - April 2023 in Hong Kong -
1
In March of 23 the masks came off
In Hong Kong. They were worn right up till then
By everyone. Each runny-nose, sneeze, cough
Was kept in place, each snarl remained unseen.
Though, strangely, at the time, within most bars
You didn’t need a mask to go inside.
You took your mask off as you entered, where
The street-wide punishments were not applied.
Then one day we could breathe clean air again.
Out loud, full-chested exhaling allowed.
To inhale? For the first month, on the trains,
A cloth still covered most mouths in the crowds.
A cowed and stunned self-censure still endured,
Some shock stayed on in this part of the world.
2
But I recalled the Catholic Irish priests
Pope-told their magic gift was metaphor,
Informed as they performed the Eucharist
The change was not deemed actual anymore.
Who, being as invested as they were
In such transforming power, kept their faith:
The bread and wine to blood and flesh they’d turned
Was real! No papal rethink taking place.
How difficult to alter our beliefs!
How often we believe because it helps!
Or seems to. What remains when certainties
Are shaken lose? What stays beyond the pose
Secured for our investment in ourselves?
What shows when we must move to something else?
Lockdown Sonnets Thirty-four and Thirty-five.
Andrew Barker
3 авг 2023
