As we start 2017, I thought I would post a couple more poems that I wrote during Advent this year. This is a pair of poems meant to be read together. Mary, mother of Jesus, is the person the poems hold in common. In the first poem, she is with Eve, the first woman God created and the "mother of all living." And in the second, she is with Elizabeth, her cousin and the mother of John the Baptist.
********
Mary and Eve
Two women meet in a transfigured land,
Both mothers, one ancient and one young.
One kneels and weeps while one shines and stands,
Both sing the gospel song which must be sung.
Mary is a graceful, budding tree
Who hears the Word and lifts her arms in praise.
Her fervent yes will one day be the key
To God’s descent, his broken ones to raise.
Eve is broken, tired, bent and sad,
An unrooted willow who craves to know
How God will come to reverse the bad,
And o’er the shadowed world let true light flow.
Two women meet: one cries for what’s undone,
The other points to Him through whom the world will be
re-won.
EMP, Advent 2016
Mary and Elizabeth
Two women meet in an ordinary town.
Both expectant, one middle-aged and one a girl.
They embrace with work worn hands, in homespun gowns,
Each one a jewel, bright sapphire and pearl.
Elizabeth’s face shines with radiant light
For when they touch, her baby jumps for joy.
Filled with prophetic energy and might,
She honors her cousin and her cousin’s unborn boy.
Mary is amazed to once more hear and feel
That the One she carries is indeed called Lord.
She sings how he has come to rule and heal,
To love the poor and save the broken world.
Two women: both filled with God’s own might,
Their hug a loving step in His banishment of night.
EMP, Advent 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment