The Song of the Seraph
of San Francisco

by Mary Esther Crump
Audio version: for instructions to hear, click here

Audio part 1 (3:15) ~ to listen click here

 

Over the light-yoked harbour nightly
great planes come and go,
over the necklace bridges flashing their traffic,
under the stars that dip low in the curved Pacific
and blaze more stately
than plane-twinkle or city-glow,
great planes circle slow.

 

Sweeping wide and wider than the great
planes ever sweep,
one night recently,
advancing from Far to nearer far
through the Eastern deep,
a live Star moving intent
hastens toward the Occident:
never has such Light illumined western land or sea.
Now Heaven, knowing Earth's distress,
assays in man's extremity
God's Opportunity
– Yes Yes O Yes –
and now, approaching our planet's night,
one of the Lord God's Seraphim
comes, Ambassador sent from Him,
to implement a cosmic Plan
in behalf of the Family of Man.
From afar the Light is bright dazzling white.

 

But then, as the Seraph draws
nearer, making poised pause,
coronal color shows:
fiery gold-white from the vast heart flows,
blue-white like a two-edged sword outthrusts
from the throat through space,
violet-white around the princely head in a halo glows.
The quality of these intermingling lights is interstellar,
all of them together are of the color of peace
(of PEACE!)
and from the nimbus' lofty center shines a
Face
of lively grace
intelligent compassion
cognisant mission
Love-Wisdom bent
toward mankind to release
pent peace.
Clear through the near reaches
making transition
while the great Brotherhood of Light watches,
swift the Lightbearer approaches the destined place.

 

Behind him the celestial abyss. Now
pauses the Seraph over night-cloaked Earth
over bright-yoked San Francisco
where great planes reached a destination
where brave hopes sought a consummation
where men of goodwill in free cooperation
attending the embattled birth
of a planetary aspiration
for peace
(for PEACE!)
joined in a new project, noble to dare,
against the scourge of war.

 

[Audio part 2 (5:30) begins here ~ to listen click here
and for full instructions, see below]

 

They planned from heart's height.
Striving. Beginning.
Acknowledging dire need.
They moved from minds' might.
Surviving. But not winning.
A time is full indeed
and Earth's care becomes Universe's Care
as the Seraph towers over the Light-flooded city.
Then, lifting his triple wings
in salutation,
verging his steadfast Eye
from the spangled sky
to radiate humanity,
the fiery One sings.

 

Fusing men and angel tongues,
This is the song He sings:

 

The stars of Western sky flash high
reassurances
into Earth's night.
Galaxies sweeping
constellations radioactive
planets luminous.
Stars of greater magnitude
stars of lesser magnitude
how We love them!
How We love them all.

 

I would reach out and pluck them, thick-
hanging clusters.
— thick
like grapes on autumn-brown-speckled
vineyards,
like poems on the fringe of human awareness
just right just ripe for the plucking —
I would reach
I would pluck
I would gather
I would distribute their light- and-life-bringing potencies
for the healing of the
nations of Earth.

 

O worn nations of torn Earth,
I reach for you.
Reach to Me.
O tired nations of scarred Earth,
I gather for you.
Gather to Us.
O buffetted nations of suffering Earth,
how We love you!
How We love you all.

 

Into western sky I reach.
I grasp of the massed virtues of the stars.
With mind and heart I garner of them
naming and loving as I tap
the free flowing Energy-sap of them ...

 

From Venus
cloud-shrouded
nearest
dearest of them,
Love I harvest.
LOVE.

 

From Merak
steadfast in the Great Bear waiting,
Peace I gather in burgeoning abundance,
PEACE.

 

From Betelguese
striding with Orion magnificent
triumphant messianic forgiving over the zenith
GOODWILL.

 

From Vega
con brio from her lyre down-sweeping
arpeggios of festival
glissandos of plenty:
SHARING.

 

From Arcturus
the brightest the best of the Sons of the
Morning,
the peerless the true the altogether lovely,
our ever living
once and future King:
VICTORY.

 

From Pleiades
incredible cluster
crackling across millennia of lightyears
with vigorous vast vitality:
COOPERATION.

 

(Not for Freedom do I reach. Nor
for Courage. For courage
abundant is here in drear dear
Earth. And where Courage is, Freedom
yet lacking will come
enough and to spare
to transmute Earth in swift shift to
rebirth.
No. Not
for Freedom do I reach. Nor
for Courage.)

 

But
From Regulus, DEDICATION
From Aldebaran, INTEGRATION
From Sirius, ILLUMINATION
and from
this One and
that One and all the shining singing-together Ones,
JOY.

 

So on and on and on through the
stars and the planets:
calling them
loving them
naming the names of them in the one Name
(Great NAME of the Lord of the Universe),
I reach out and pluck of
their light and their virtues.
I pluck for the
healing of the
nations of
Earth.

 

 

Audio version: Instructions
To listen click here for part 1 (3:15)
click here for part 2 (5:30)
 or use links above to follow with the words

Hints: This audio is available here in MP3 format and is recorded at a speed that should be adequate for streaming provided your modem is 56K or faster. If you are unable to hear sound after you click the link to listen, either above with the words or here below, you probably need to set your preferred application within your browser. And if your browser creates an interfering window when you click to listen, you should be able to bring this window forward to follow along with the text, while the clips play.

Two recommended softwares are available for download by linking to them from here:
Quicktime and RealPlayer.

 

Mary Esther Crump wrote this poem during the organizational meetings of the United Nations which convened in San Francisco on April 25, 1945. In her words, "I followed those sessions avidly, partly because I had shared a dream of world peace with my girlhood friend … who in 1945 was the correspondent on international affairs with ABC radio and was doing their hour-to-hour radio reporting from San Francisco. One evening as I listened to her, I became aware of a great Light hovering over the area, downward inclining toward the Cow Palace (where the meetings were being held) and beaming its ray into each of the gathered delegates. It was a vivid image, and I began writing down whatever comments I could before it would fade. These jottings turned out to be a long poem, the title of which would be 'The Song of the Seraph of San Francisco.'"

It is interesting to note that The Great Invocation (current version) was also given by the Tibetan on Apri 17, 1945, and that the U.N.'s convention referred to in this poem occurred also at the Wesak Festival full moon that year, April 27.
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Published in The Beacon,
Volume LIII, Number 10, July/August 1990
© Lucis Publishing Co., 120 Wall St., 24th Floor, New York, NY 10005

 

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