Directed by Luke Ewing of mothlightcreative.com
Poem by Phinehas Hodges: phinehashodges.com
Creative Director: Daniel Winne
Artist’s Statement:
‘The Ninth Hour’ is about the elusiveness of a tangible God. It is about longing and desire for just a glimpse of a being of beauty and ultimate power to create meaning in this brief life. It is about seeing the back of God disappearing ahead of you, in the trees, seeing God in glimpses, flashes of light, the reflection on the water: the way God seems to glimmer, just out of reach, in the corner of your eye.
The Ninth Hour from Mothlight Creative on Vimeo.
So here I am, my love–
awakened by the leaves
at my window,
awakened thinking
I’ve heard the brush of angel’s wings.
Do you remember
how we walked, together,
and spoke in subtle ways?
and you were warm,
my love,
and the world was cold,
and now I rest
beside light-glazed rivers,
and the trees
burst yellow around me,
and fall
is here, my love,
and it is no longer enough,
the azure sky,
the sparrows nesting
in my eves,
the small rituals I bind
myself together with;
and where did you go?
I’ve looked
to the hills
and the coming clouds,
I’ve woke from terrible dreams
in which I cannot speak–
and if I have turned against you, my love,
have you not turned against me, as well?
have you not heard me
cry out in the night
much as you did:
Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani…
And where will I go?
The sun hurtles
to its burial ground,
and I cannot survive the winter,
and I wake from dreams
in which I find your body, broken
on the ground
and know suddenly, certainly,
that it was I who cast you down.
And my love,
oh my love,
I have searched for you
in all the quiet places:
in cemeteries
and aspen groves
and blithe and empty churches.
My love
won’t you come to me?
see me weary,
see me filled with small
possessions and regrets.
Won’t you come to me, my love?
now, now;
sing me a song of grace and desire…
