Reviews for Prayers from the Ark and the Creatures Choir

The average rating for Prayers from the Ark and the Creatures Choir based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-06-21 00:00:00 Chris Thomas Two books in one, the first, Prayers from the Ark, consisted of short first-person prayers from individual representative animals of each species. The prayers in this collection were generally shorter and the animals slightly more familiar, more every day, than those from the second book, The Creatures� Choir. My favorites from the first book were the Cat and the Tortoise because they are my favorite animals, but also because Sister Bernos perfectly captures the personality of each. The cat is haughty, spoiled and disdainful of dogs, the Tortoise is accepting and s-l-o-w but also big-hearted to his Maker. In the second book, The Creatures� Choir, the prayers were longer and as the selection included a number of less appealing (to my way of thinking anyway) � Gnat, Lizard, Mole, Toad, Spider � critters, the enjoyment here wasn�t so much with coziness as with the cleverness of Sr. Bernos� imagination. The vain Peacock wanted a voice to match his beauty. The Flea dared not pray that God would let him in paradise less he ruin it. The Camel prayed to find the magi, etc. My favorite though was the prayer of the Beaver who wanted living water to build paradise for God. I have finished reading it through several times, but shall read it again and again and again... Am already contemplating who I would like to give this book to as a gift... It is so delightful, you just want to share it! Each prayer poem is accompanied by a delicate sketch of the animal, insect, bird, reptile, etc. Absolutely charming! Thank you dear Dhanaraj!

Review # 2 was written on 2012-02-22 00:00:00 Terry Chase Carmen Bernos De Gasztold was one of the five children of a poor family in Arachon, a small town somewhere in France. Her father was a good man but didn't know how to earn enough for his family (like the father in Gabrielle Roy's The Tin Flute). He became unhinged and died when Carmen was only sixteen. During the second world war she worked in a laboratory of a silk factory, helping her mother and her young siblings endure the hunger and countless deprivations brought by the German occupation. It was then, during her free moments, that she began to write her poems. In 1945 Carmen's mother died. They likewise lost their home at Arachon, and she became a governess of a French family in Lisbon where she became engaged to a man. On the eve of their marriage, unsure of her feelings, she backed out and broke the engagement. Later, she seemed to have found her true vocation, teaching little children. For some reasons, however, she suffered serious physical and mental breakdown. Her siblings were in no position to help her, having troubles of their own. Fortunately, a lifelong family friend, a nun in a monastery, heard about her plight and took her in. There, for many years, the nuns took care of her until she got well. They encouraged her to continue writing and printed her work for local use. Ms. Rumer Godden was once helping the nuns clean out a cupboard in the convent and there she accidentally discovered Carmen's poems. Captivated by their charm she translated them from their original French to English. "Prayers from the Ark" are what Carmen imagined the animals in Noah's Ark (and Noah himself!) were praying for. These poems brought Carmen renown, becoming a bestseller in Europe. "The Creatures' Choir" likewise have poet animals declaiming, but no longer in supplication. Whereas the animals in the Ark plead, those in the Choir seem to complain or just say whatever it is that's in the minds. All the poems in both books, however, are addressed to God and end with an Amen. Penguin (the book company, not the animal) first published this one-volume edition in 1976 and has since undergone several reprinting. Let me now give you two examples of the Ark poems-- THE PRAYER OF THE LITTLE BIRD Dear God, I don't know how to pray by myself very well, but will You please protect my little nest from wind and rain? Put a great deal of dew on the flowers, many seeds in my way. Make Your blue very high, Your branches lissom; let Your kind light stay late in the sky and set my heart brimming with such music that I must sing, sing, sing... Please, Lord. Amen THE PRAYER OF THE LARK I am here! O my God. I am here, I am here! You draw me away from earth, and I climb to You in a passion of shrilling, to the dot in heaven where, for an instant, You crucify me. When will You keep me forever? Must You always let me fall back to the furrow's dip, a poor bird of clay? Oh, at least let my exultant nothingness soar to the glory of Your mercy, in the same hope, until death. Amen The cock, dog, goldfish, little pig, little ducks, foal, donkey, bee, monkey, butterfly, giraffe, owl, cricket, cat, glow-worm, mouse, goat, elephant, ox, ant, tortoise, old horse, raven, dove and Noah himself also have their own prayer-poems. Let me now end this review with two samples of the Choir poems-- THE SEAGULL A hole in the cliffs is my nest but the sea calls me, and I cradle my dreams in the hollows of the waves. The roll of Your ocean is with me in the sky, where I swing on one wing, then the other, and plummet like a stone on the living flash of a fish. Lord, does my poignant cry echo the endless travail that beats on Your shore? I am the bird like salt, grey and white, a bitter tang that does not fade; and the ships outward bound watch me out of sight, a little handkerchief waving goodbye. In the restlessness of my kingdom, Lord, let the storm spare me. Amen. THE OYSTER Moist, glaucous, in my mother-of-pearl house, its door tightly shut against intruders, I drink in a dream from the sea: Oh, let an iridescent pearl-- a milky dawn, a faerie sheen-- find its tints in the heart of my life. Then if, slowly, day by day, this mysterious seed grows more perfect, for my joy and Your glory, Lord, nothing else will matter. If it must be, I shall die to let it reach its fullest splendour, shining--only for You, Lord-- at the bottom of the sea. Amen.