Yet Shall He Live

by Ralph Pitman

Author's Note: Bishop DeWitt ordained me to the priesthood in 1973, and I was briefly on his staff in Philadelphia until he resigned to answer a higher calling in 1974. I was with him and the others at the Church of the Advocate [for the "irregular ordinations" of 11 women to the Episcopal priesthood in 1974]. A little-known fact is that all the priests who joined in the laying on of hands were charged with Ecclesiastical Disobedience.

What an "irregular" bunch we all were. I will miss him dearly, as will so many others who he shaped with his courage.

I submit this as an offering in his memory.

Yet shall he live . . .

            For Robert DeWitt, d.2003

The sun

Stretches cold and pale yellow

Across the fishing banks

And lights the decks of the sword boats

Where the days work

Has long begun

Where scarred hands

Cradle morning tea

And salty eyes

Squint and stare.

 

In time

Nosing among the islands

It warms the weary backs

Of those whose lot it is

To watch and weep

For tides that never come

They take their morning walk

Together

And speak in voices

Warm and cracked

As a hickory flame.

 

Whole worlds

Come and go

Against the stony beach

Stars collide

And rain down fire

While the Hermit Crab

Recites Matins

In his rented cell

 

I came to him

In a fever of youth

Tender and broken hearted

Undifferentiated rage

Feeding my cells like protein

My book-learned faith

As tenuous and unreliable as the winter sun.

He let me go

On and on and on

Until we collapsed in laughter

At the sheer exhausting depth of self.

What are you writing? he said.

What do you love?

I sang him a song

And received the gift of his gaze.

I handed him my guitar

He played a chord or two

And then sang to me

Of a place called Isle Au Haut

And his voice

Was warm and cracked

As a hickory flame.

 

 

The Rev. Ralph Pitman is rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Willoughby, Ohio and associate director of Support To At Risk Teens (START) in Cleveland, Ohio. He may be reached by email at pitfam143@aol.com

An obituary for Bishop DeWitt and the homily preached at his memorial service are available HERE on our website.