An Altogether Different Language

There was a church in Umbria, Little Portion,
Already old eight hundred years ago.
It was abandoned and in disrepair
But it was called St. Mary of the Angels
For it was known to be the haunt of angels,
Often at night the country people
Could hear them singing there.

What was it like, to listen to the angels,
To hear those mountain-fresh, those simple voices
Poured out on the bare stones of Little Portion
In hymns of joy? No one has told us.
Perhaps it needs another language
That we have still to learn,
An altogether different language.

--Anne Porter (1911-2011), from An Altogether Different Language (1994)



Image: Santa Maria delle Trosce, Vernazzano, Umbria, Italy.