Gloria In Excelsis Deo

they all tried their best to approximate angelic gloria

Vivaldi
punching out the word like a bullet to the heart
Palestrina
soothing the hillside with intertwining harmonies
Handel
exploding with high heavenly voices
Bach
breaking up the word into an instrumental dance
Mozart
simply letting the voices sing the sonorous song of praise
Beethoven
rushing upwards to a joyful complexity of rhythm and wall of sound

So many others

and then they struggle with the next line
angels proclaiming

Et in terra pax

not in heaven
not in our individual psyches
not even in our congregations
but on
--------------earth

how do we sing that?

with irony?
with hope?
with assurance?
with silence?

look at the newborn face of the child
the only true antidote to hate

and peace on
earth
may yet descend
on dove-like angel wings