What the Seven Thunders Said

Art by Nina Paley / apocalypseanimated.com

Revelation, the final book of the Bible, is a series of visions recorded by John (either John the Apostle or John the Elder, scholars don’t agree…but do they ever?). Nearly every image in these visions comes from the Old Testament. That said, the images are combined in surprising ways and include new touches that make Revelation a longer, stranger trip than the Grateful Dead ever had.

In one vision, John sees an angel standing on land and sea who cries out. John tells us, “When he cried out, the seven thunders spoke…. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. Then I heard a voice from heaven, saying, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down!’” (Rev. 10:3-4). Though John couldn’t write what the seven thunders said, my poetic license allows me to write speculative poetry about it 😉

GK Chesterton quipped, “And though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators” (from Orthodoxy). By writing a poem about what the seven thunders said, I have probably joined the ranks of Chesterton’s wild commentators. But since poetry isn’t much different than cryptic prophecy, I’m not in danger of violating any sacred mysteries 😆

Below is an excerpt from “What the Seven Thunders Said”. The full poem has seven parts (one for each thunder) and is in my new book Voiceless Choirs: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. I won’t comment much except to say each section includes thunder-like sound and presents what I believe the seven thunders said. But, like John, I will leave readers to interpret the message rather than writing it down 😉

from “What the Seven Thunders Said”

Wave after wave detonates as surf 
cluster-bombs the shoreline.

The tide rumbles in 
until it buries the tiny beach
and swells against the barnacled rock
sloping down behind it.

As the sun descends and is interred
below a mound of land 
jutting into the water,
the tide begins to go out.

Later, the moon rises from the slab horizon;
the little beach emerges again
as the final fingers of water
slip out to sea.

Shell fragments strewn across the sand
form mother of pearl constellations
whose iridescent colors shimmer in the moonlight
and butterfly upward, through the dark, 
into the arms of stars.