The One Happy Thing

By Desmond Kon

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“It is a happy thing that there is no royal road to poetry.”
~ Gerard Manley Hopkins


No poet in this country cares for Hopkins,
a faraway poet said.

But for the sense of the utopian ideal
in his Heaven-Haven.

But for such an imagined good place--
was it also an epoch, some temporal state

of mind, the psychology of the moment? Then
emotion more like a fleeting feeling,
                                                      then fleet
of more of the same.

                 Like holy love, heaven-sent.

On feast days, beyond holy days of obligation.

On Sundays, which are always feast days, 
                                                     didn’t we know?

An accent on its significance, without ambiguity
like a renewal of vows, forcefulness.

                                        Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 106

Therein a gift of the Second Vatican Council:

                        “Hence the Lord's day is the original feast day.”

That was, is—will always be—poetry.

That statement of truth, reclaimed like an eternal ictus.

A fit of awakened memory, seizure, hint, 
                                                     sometimes admonition,
                                                     and always, expressed intimation 
                                                     for all.

                                                     Then, flight, as I said once, 
                                                                                            again.

                                                     Then, church bells, once
                                                     and for all.

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DESMOND Francis Xavier KON Zhicheng-Mingdé is the author of an epistolary novel, a quasi-memoir, two lyric essay monographs, four hybrid works, nine poetry collections and a creative guided journal. The former journalist has edited over 25 books and co-produced three audio books, several pro bono for non-profit organisations. Desmond is Senior Lecturer of Creative Writing and Publishing at Nanyang Technological University. He can be found at desmondkon.com.