Jesus in the 21st century would be shot while scribbling on the ground.
America has no need of crosses—
each school a Gethsemane;
each capitol rotunda a Golgotha.
Lord, have mercy,
for we live in ordinary times.
Kyrie, eleison.
As we look back at brutality in ages past,
violence seems both scourge and best
practice. Christ, have mercy,
for we live in ordinary times.
Christe, eleison.
And as we consider our guns
like the stars of heaven,
and our bullets like
the seashore’s sand,
Lord, humor us with mercy.
Forgive us again our leaden sin,
for we live in ordinary times.
Kyrie, eleison.
Notes and Questions for Discussion
Two Bible passages are alluded to in this poem:
- Genesis 22 in the Old Testament
- John 8 in the New Testament.
What are your reactions to this poem? What are your thoughts on violence in scripture and how it might relate to violence in society? What kind of a world do you hope for?
Wheat & Tares 
I love your art Jake C. This one in particular is very powerful. The first stanza conjures up strong images that should truly move all of us to advocate for something to change.
But we won’t. And that’s our modern curse. And I hate it.
This was really helpful for me today. So many feelings about the politics this week and you helped focus me. I love the latin, I love the ordinary times repetition.
The Kyrie isn’t Latin; it’s Greek.
True enough, vajra2, if you skip over the history. Merriam-Webster Dictionary points out that Kyrie is “Middle English from Medieval Latin, from Late Latin kyrie eleison, transliteration of Greek kyrie eleēson.”
That is to say, I and the dictionary disagree with you. Kyrie is Latin twice over. It’s also English (and a nifty ’80s pop song by Mr. Mister). Would you care to respond to the poem and any of the questions asked at the end of the post?
I was today years old when I learned that the Mr. Mister song I listened to hundreds of times in my youth was saying “Kyrie Elieson, the road that I must travel” and meant Lord have mercy instead of “Kyrie (which I assumed was a women’s name) lays on the road the I must travel.” Wow, talk about me not understanding the lyrics at all! Thank you Jake C for helping me learn this truth.
10ac, peace and pop music be with you 🙏😁
For anyone uninitiated, here is a link to the official Mr. Mister music video. Great song; charming if underwhelming ’80s music video: https://youtu.be/9NDjt4FzFWY?si=eTQytNtB8wW7vJPT
The lyrics are pretty wonderful. Here is just the chorus:
Kyrie eleison down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison where I’m going, will you follow?
Kyrie eleison on a highway in the night
That haunting repetition of “for we live in ordinary times.” Wow. Just wow. We’ve normalized violence. All this gun violence is ordinary. We did that. Shootings aren’t out of the ordinary anymore.
And yet, as you say, the scriptures have their own violence. People were killed and hurt. It’s ordinary. It’s always been ordinary. Jesus, have mercy, for our ordinary times are terrible.
It’s Greek written Latin letters. Not a single syllable is Latin, or English (Old, Middle, or Modern). The phrase in Latin is
“Domine, miserere.”
Kýrie, eléison (Κύριε, ἐλέησον)
‘Lord, have mercy’
Christe, eléison (Χριστέ, ἐλέησον)
‘Christ, have mercy’
The Catholic Mass was originally celebrated in Greek, which was the lingua franca of the Mediterranean. It’s likely that in addition to Aramaic, Jesus knew some Hebrew as part of his religious practice, and also some Koine Greek. I doubt he spoke any Latin at all. Notice that Paul was able to preach in Corinth, Antioch, etc. Unlike Jesus, Paul was a Roman citizen. but there’s no indication that even he spoke Latin. The Catholic Church exclusively used Greek until the 4th century. Merriam-Webster is wrong, as is the OED, both defining the phrase as a noun. They may have been misled by the fact the phrase can be used as a title, e.g. “say the Kyrie Eleison,” recite the Lord’s Prayer,” “say the Pledge of Allegiance.” Hence, the misleading reference to its use in Middle English.
A word or phrase may originate in one language and be taken into another language, of which it then becomes a part. That is what happened qith Kyrie Eleison. It vwry much became Latin. One movement in Mozart’s Requiem is the Kyrie Eleison, and most people would say that the text is Latin.
The fact that most people would say the Kyrie is Latin does not make it so. I don’t understand the desire of people to make a Greek phrase English or Latin just because it’s used by an English (or Latin) speaker. it’s Greek and a part of Western Christian culture. If I were to say eleison to the average American would s/he know what I was saying? Would Marcus Aurelius have said the phrase was Latin? The Kyrie is definitely a part of the Latin mass but it’s the one bit of Greek left; it’s not Latin. The fact that it’s surrounded by Latin is immaterial. Anyway, you can knock forever on a dear man’s door…Over and out.
Georgis, the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem is one of my most loved pieces of music, and definitely offers the type of tone I aspire to with poems like this. Thanks for mentioning that piece, which I recommend you any who have yet to listen to it.
Janey, thank you to you also for sharing your reaction to the poem. Difficult issues which benefit from shared perspectives.
vajra2, you’re right that word came from Greek. You’re right that the early church was all Greek, at least outside of Judaea and Antioch where they may have worshipped in Aramaic, but their scriptures were likely Greek. The gospel was preached in Rome in Greek for a century or more. Almost all educated Romans spoke Greek. According to Shakespeare, Cicero spoke frequently in Greek, but one of conspirators, Casca, spoke no Greek–but in the play it is clear that Casca is portrayed as more grounded in reality than high thinkers like the idealistic Brutus. You’re right: in Rome, Greek was the language of the early church, not Latin. I suspect that Greek-speaking citizens or slaves may have translated into Latin for the common people. You’re right on Jesus probably not speaking a word of Latin, and Pilate almost certainly spoke Greek, and some movies err in having Jesus’ trial before Pilate in Latin.
You ask if an average American would know what it meant if Kyrie Eleison were said to him or her. Probably not, especially for non-Catholics, but the phrase has not become part of English to the extent that it became part of Latin. Matt may have erred in one sense saying that he loved the OP’s use of Latin in the poem, but in another sense he was exactly correct. The Kyrie Eleison is an integral part of the Latin mass, where Latin refers to the language. Latin speakers who did not speak Greek could use the phrase in the course of and as part of their Latin speech, and their Latin-speaking interlocuters would have understood it. You write that Merriam-Webster and the OED are both wrong by defining the phrase as a noun. I respectfully disagree. When the phrase is used in English, it is probably most often used as a noun, pointing back either to the part of the Latin mass that carries that name, even in English, or a part of a work of sacred music. For example: Did you see what she did during the Kyrie Eleison? or I really enjoy the horn part in Mozart’s Kyrie Eleison. It is a title, as you admit, and a title is a noun. The two dictionaries are probably correct to call it a noun.
Our era has too much violence, but we also live in one of the most peaceful eras ever. One of my favorite scenes in the LOTR movies is when the Nazgul break into the Prancing Pony inn looking for Frodo, and the innkeeper quivers behind the desk with great fear. People used to live with much more fear than we live with today, for in former times marauding armies, bands, and gangs were much more common. I appreciate the phrase “leaden sin” in the penultimate line of the third stanza. That is a beautiful and provoking turn of words. While I don’t think that owning a gun is a sin, maybe it is like money: some people’s love of a gun is beyond natural, and it probably becomes a sin for them–or, by transference, for us as a people. Thanks, Jake C!
“Christ have mercy on, for we live in ordinary times” has to be one of the most beautiful lines I have ever read.