Oratorio of the Holy Grail

Aria One.

 

One snowy winter night a poet walked

through the crunchy ice down the old lane way.

He had heard the voice of God in his day,

and believed this deity spoke and talked

with those who composed song and word, the joys

of the realms above. Yet, this cold evening

he heard nothing, knew no glorious ring,

and his melancholy, dismal alloy.

No combination of note and wisdom

could alleviate his inner torment

from decay to risen hope in this time.

There were decorations of the season,

but they did not raise his spirits; lament

was the only note on his tongue, not rhyme.

          

Strumming his guitar, he sang of Moss—girl

down the road that he imagined was saint

as she was still young: long dark hair plaited

as if in a Renaissance painting, pearl.

Her purity was lovely as her skin,

freshwater-pale with such verdant-lustrous

lines that local others were covetous.

Singing the Christmas story of her kin,

now shepherds of the street with crook-matched niche,

to denote a few of those who blithe cared

to visit her Mary under the eaves.

Where she sat on the porch, with smoky titch

of a cigarette in her hand, she fared

as a child ’neath a tree of tattered leaves.

 

Yet one tree in her mind stood against blue

frosty sky, and the stain of its glass-like

open air—with a church, its streaming light

down the road, door swung open, misconstrued

altar call that one could see to the cross.

Somehow the janitor had forgotten

to lock the door: Virgin’s new begotten

babe Jesus was bright visible to Moss.

She languished there that she was invited

to heaven, where icons forever lived,

and her birth father’s petty thievery

was overlooked, by someone short-sighted;

the scooped chocolate mint ice cream was craved

by her mother, who scolded peevishly.

 

Moss hung her head in shame, the church door swung

shut in disbelief, that any pure would

enter its fold, as sheep to a shepherd.

The call had mercy-come. The bells had rung.

Her mother and father must have then made

her exempt to salvation. If only

this combination—bright-eyed love, souly

stealth-given to any eager patched-faith

passerby as a form of last bitter.

penance to sit on the stoop, eventide,

the chastened violet time of the end—

made the people’s street poet a writer:

who stared vacantly blue until he sighed,

began again to compose his God-send.

 

When all earth reposed, and the world languished

in silence—there was a hush, and snow fell

on evergreens, crystal sparkles would tell

of how both hope and joy were long banished.

Hearkened then here, to this abandoned place,

the angels of shining realms staccato,

and Gloria, they sang as piccolo—

result be farmer’s fields of snowy lace.

Onlookers down below removed their hats,

and scratched their heads: they had not before seen

such things. Celestial glorious song

streamed down, and gentle words of heaven last

could not help but render the shepherds’ green

pastures a wider thoroughfare along.

 

Beneath this star-filled night, and ever-near,

drew close to straw manger of a stable,

the shepherds of rustic lowly hovel

where, dim in shadows, poverty their tears.

Here, they gathered dressed in shepherd’s rough cloaks,

and baby’s song was new and innocent:

to their wounds, cloth and cooling liniment,

the crux of restoring, to their cries; smoke

rose from the fire. They held their hands to warmth,

they grinned from ear to ear, now excited—

life, love, sounded their calling to the poor.

Witnesses entered new sacred re-birth

from the child Emmanuel, once blighted

under an oppression to dusty floor.

 

Here, one babe anew would enter this light

pronouncing browned ragamuffins worthy

of redemption, despite faces swarthy.

Abundant harvest trumped the dark earth’s blight.

One trumpet-shaped flower would sound its horn,

and with its solo shape the hearts accrued

of women from flagrant to wanting true,

of men from lust to cherishing pure morn . . .

White curtains in the window were hung bright,

and Moss had a ring on her finger shine.

The subtle diamond spoke of a poet

who lived down the street, was walking one night—

the winter moon shone through the needled pine,

Christmas Eve, when presents occupied most. 

 

Aria Two.

 

Far in the East, they travelled through the night—

Magi who followed the star to the child—

astronomers who were learned men, mild

was the kingdom they sought by this pure light.

In regal clothing of kings, they passed on

through town and country, all in desert line,

their gifts to present, gold and perfume fine:

frankincense and myrrh to the Virgin’s son.

What would they give, beyond the holy grail?

Could wise men so wealthy now give their hearts?

What would be their ebony life’s true call?

Was there a king, who, without gifts, looked frail;

and usually his donkey drew a cart.

With their off’ring he triumphed o’er the fall.

 

Precious oil streaming down at such a thing!

His radiant face to be found by men:

amid the turmoil of the furthest sin

and farthest country’s scarlet heart, beating.

Studying the dark sky would lead them on

through forest and over river, through field;

he was a truly long awaited child,

the ancient Holy Scriptures from of old

predicted it, had prophesied a King.

This new King would be a King over all,

his reign would extend to the far countries,

to the ends of the earth, where children sing

of his love, women—lullaby, cradle—

and men at this great act of mercy, weep.

 

Through thicket and thorn, men will seek him still,

dressed in all garments, rich, and poor, comely

child-king with a voice that calls out, lovely

on the mountains, deep and rich in the hills,

and in the valleys like the smoothing wind,

blowing the cypress here and there, soothing

our distress: coming to earth, repealing

our sentence from a curse, and rescinding

the Jewish Law for our sake, our old chains

that would convict us, enemy seers

instead of friends. Loss of that enmity

allows us to behold his face and reign,

adopt his patterns, running like the deer,

falling rain into the desert. Glory!

 

Like myrrh in your body, Emmanuel,

you are being accustomed to kind love,

that you are Christ-child from the realms above;

those who adore you carry your sandals.  

Those who are trained in classical arts paint

you in the halls of palaces of earth;

you reside also in the homes of dirt—

for there, joy—laughter is heard of the saints.

Here now, you have holiness ascended,

you have risen into all earth’s glories,

you have taken our evil by surprise.

From shining Jacob’s Staircase descended,

while the hero of our children’s stories,

the feature of our aching thoughts, surmise.

 

Like frankincense, you are prepared for life

and for death, you are entombed and adorned

with lilies around your neck, and the horn

of plenty accompanies us: believe

that I who was protected and kept safe

will also keep you. In the depths of care,

you are fragrant bathed, dried in my long hair,

yet prepared as a warrior for strife.

You next—loudly sound my trumpet of war—

for you are armed as if by fine silver;

the eyes of Eucharist can see in you.

Retinas of blue tansy are aware

that this life in you will be a river;

living water that refreshes your soul.

 

Like gold, you are costly and of value,

for eternity, you are accepted

as one—by my great wealth—now provided

for, and my kingdom of heaven, to sue

for divorce the old realms of want and fear:

the curse on humankind has now been stayed.

Divided in mind between plenty’s face,

and water and blood, there is a thorn-pierced

Saviour who shed his cloak for this dark world:

his crimson blood poured out, his love now streamed

unrestricted, censored, too explicit—

in purity, a wild lily, a pearl,

too stricken on the cross of Calvary,

and in his dark, obscene death, complicit.

 

Moss looked up from the altar where she knelt,

the shepherd had opened the door again

to the sanctuary, leaving Satan,

as this Jesus in his church was heart-felt.

The devil sat on the dusty doormat,

to be rejected, as some called Jesus

to turn water into wine, for reasons

unknown, to fill the copper wedding vat;

and to walk on water, to be stable,

to wax eloquent in verse—the poet

concluded now—in pen, with a flourish

on eloquent parchment on the table.

Here was where winsome bride of Christ lowered

her sea-eyes, and held out her hands, nourished.

 

Aria Three.

 

The poet opened his scroll, with favour,

he read again of how he had been saved

from the fire of purification, slave

to sin, he had needed a pure Saviour.

His spirit had rejoiced that Moss was now

as beautiful as the Virgin Mary,

out beneath the night where she was starry—

she twirled under the snowflakes falling down.

The church kept Moss beneath their feathered wings,

taught her how to practice lent and goodness,

how to be a Christian wife with hands out—

she worshipped at the Saviour’s nail-pierced feet,

a woman with her head covered, modest.

The poet reading, her husband, had clout.

 

The steaming world would not come to an end

without the poet having the last word:

a gnarled pear tree grew up in the sheep fold,

with fruit for all that travelled ’round the bend—

wizened road—it was a juicy harvest.

All those sheep who would enter this domain,

under the shepherd’s direction remain

(with bent crook and navy corduroy vest).

The poet’s chivalrous words would rivet—

Moss now wore dresses to the fire-warmed floor—

she was his queen of an eternal vein—

in linen and in emerald velvet:

dame in stone castle of words unspoken,

and he was builder of the last door’s frame.

 

The poet and Moss dined on wine, coarse bread,

drizzled with olive oil. Stew with onions,

sheep feta with tomatoes and scallions,

she sewed their soft clothing with silken thread.

The hunters brought them their caught hares, wild game,

from the ceiling the brass pots hung, glowing,

teapots for Moss to pour black tea, steeping;

she cooked savoury soups, with cream and sage.

Silk, linen fabric was the mainstay, life

weaving away—the making of clothing

brought coloured material from afar,

and its folds made her slender form a wife,

she, lighting beeswax wicks, needed nothing,

her private smile indicated no scar.   

 

Moss’s hands were blessed with the making of fare,

her husband was well kept and undefiled,

and in due time she gently swelled with child.

They both grew sleek upon the woolen pears

dripping juice—they drank, without e’er lacking,

and their wounds of life no longer blistered:

life on the porch had been traded for bliss

instead of a surreal horrifying

reality that could degenerate

on any day into despair. Jesus,

not fortune’s fine lady, smiled on the folk.

Later, the poet had been handsome paid

for his artistry, eight million pesos . . .

and on into infinity he wrote.

 

On the bright day her son was born, Moss spoke—

she had kept her silence all those years, then

singing to herself when coins were bare spent,

weaving on through time with unflinching hope—

she called him “Barron Cypress,” that he was.

He was to inherit their good castle,

so his mother stroked, sang him old wassail

songs from the woolen cradle—where he saw

her kindly nature, and knew repentance.

He grew in the shadow of the stable,

the poet wrote pristine words of glass-blue,

and all who entered there, graciously blessed,

for they shared repast at his wood table,

and talked into the night, prayed to be new.

 

Barron Cypress studied equally hard

as his father had, and literature

became his pursuit. Even he matured

to a man with chestnut horse, and unmarred,

he approached the world with serenity

like a swan in dark waters that swims ’round

the pond with calm resilience on his brow,

in firm peace, with frugal regality.

His volta resounds throughout the poem

of his father, wisened through many years

of comforting his wife and lively son,

of banishing the death from the gray stone,

of loving God and people through their tears,

until, from the clouds, emerged yellow sun.

 

The poet, now aged, carried a cane;

his hair, fiery white, to platinum rings

as he entered the palaces of kings,

and people stared at him as he was lame.

He was still something of an oddity

with parchment scroll in hand, bound with leather,

around the house Moss had planted heather,

told to demurely fast and when to eat.

God still spoke to her often while in dreams,

when she was awake she could hear his sound—

insistent and endearing, he was choice,

resonant—her devotion to his means.

When, on her son’s return, his cry was loud:

as she lay cold and still, the poet’s voice.

Photographs: Courtesy Armstreet Clothing Co 

Critique:

“Oratorio of the Holy Grail” is a sweeping, creche-like narrative poem that blends sacred pageantry, domestic realism, and spiritual allegory into an expansive retelling of the Christmas story. True to its title, the poem functions like a musical oratorio: moving through thematic “arias” that build layer upon layer of revelation. Set against a winter landscape of “crunchy ice” and dim seasonal lights, the story begins with a poet whose faith is muted by melancholy—an archetypal seeker who has once heard God’s voice but now walks through silence. This spiritual dryness mirrors the long-awaited Advent hush before divine intervention breaks through. The poem’s atmosphere is contemplative yet yearning, as if the cold itself were the prelude to warm, celestial illumination.

A central symbolic contrast emerges between the poet—wandering, creative, spiritually restless—and Moss, the young woman he sings about. Moss, described with Renaissance purity (“long dark hair plaited… freshwater-pale skin”), becomes a contemporary Mary-figure positioned at the edges of society. Her cigarette on the porch, her parents’ small failings, and her shame before the open church door create an image of modern marginalisation. Yet it is precisely this unlikely girl who receives a glimpse of heavenly invitation through the mistakenly unlocked sanctuary—a metaphor for grace breaking past human barriers. Moss’s longing, innocence, and woundedness echo the biblical themes of God choosing the lowly and overlooked.

The poem then transitions into a vivid Nativity tableau, one of the most visually powerful sequences in the text. Angels fill an “abandoned place” with staccato Gloria; shepherds gather in their rustic cloaks; firelight warms their hands as they approach the manger. Isaacson draws directly on traditional Christmas pageantry while enhancing it with rich sensory detail: the snowy lace, the scent of liniment, the crackling fire, the newborn’s cry. This tableau forms the oratorio’s central creche image—a living hinge between heaven and earth where poverty meets divine grandeur. Through these details, the poem taps into the universal appeal of Christmas storytelling, which your multimedia video brings beautifully to life.

One of the poem’s most profound threads is the journey of the Magi, placed in Aria Two. These wise men wrestle not only with what gifts to give but with the meaning of kingship itself. “What would they give, beyond the holy grail?” the poem asks, expanding the familiar narrative into deeper theological reflection. Christ becomes the King who transcends wealth, culture, and geography—one whose reign stretches to “the ends of the earth,” granting mercy and overturning the curse of the Law. The imagery here is both ancient and contemporary: thickets, rivers, cypress winds, and frankincense interwoven with spiritual warfare, Eucharistic vision, and divine adoption. The tone becomes sweeping and majestic, appropriate to oratorio-style music, where themes of prophecy, kingship, suffering, and triumph unfold in grand arcs.

A third thematic pillar is Christ’s dual identity as child and warrior, symbolised through oils, lilies, gold, and tears. These sacramental images anticipate both His crucifixion and His victory. The poem emphasises His tenderness—“bathed, dried in my long hair”—yet also His readiness for spiritual battle. This juxtaposition enriches the Christmas narrative with eschatological weight: the infant King comes not only for adoration but for redemption, deliverance, and cosmic renewal. Meanwhile Moss, witnessing these revelations, steps further into her Marian role, kneeling at the altar as the poet pens his revelations. The devil barred at the door marks a symbolic shift: spiritual authority now enters the domestic worlds of Moss and the poet.

The later stanzas depict a remarkable transformation of everyday life into sacred vocation. Moss and the poet marry; they eat coarse bread and olive oil; she sews garments; hunters bring game; beeswax candles glow. This domestic beauty echoes the Holy Family narrative—simple, hardworking, and sanctified. Their son, Barron Cypress, grows into a man of serenity and learning, inheriting both literary legacy and moral fortitude. These scenes anchor the earlier heavenly pageantry in lived human experience: the Incarnation extending not only to shepherds and Magi but into kitchens, cloth-making, study, and family bonds.

Ultimately, Oratorio closes on a poignant note of mortality and everlasting devotion. Moss’s death and the poet’s grief complete the oratorio’s arc: from divine silence, to revelation, to family flourishing, and finally to the solemn return of the poet’s solitary voice. The palaces of kings, the leather-bound scroll, and Moss’s dream-visits from God all underscore the enduring union of art, faith, and love. The poet carries forward the song—older, limping, but luminous—affirming that the Incarnation’s light continues through grief, aging, and human frailty. It is a fitting conclusion for a Christmas poem: a reminder that Christ’s coming transforms every chapter of life, not merely the cradle.

Generated by AI, courtesy of WLI.