Sunday, December 18, 2005

Wachet Auf

Advent
Season when
Dual citizenship
Holds us in
Awkward tension.

The world, intent on
Spending Christmas
Eats and drinks its way to
Oblivion after dinner.

The Kingdom sounds
Insistent warnings:
Repent, be ready,
Keep awake,
He comes.

Like some great fugue
The themes entwine
The Christmas carols
Demanding our attention
In shops and pubs,
Bore their insistent way
Through noise of traffic;
Underneath, almost unheard,
The steady solemn theme of Advent.

With growing complexity,
Clashing, bending,
Rivals for our attention,
Themes mingle and separate,
Pulling us with increasing
Urgency,
Until in final resolution,
The end attained,
Harmony rests in aweful
Stillness, and
The child is born.

He comes,
Both Child and Judge.

And will he find us
watching?

Ann Lewin from Shine on Star of Bethlehem, A Worship resource for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany compiled by Geoffrey Duncan

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, is that ever fabulous.
Thanks for sharing it.
(She's a somewhat better poet than I...)

St. Casserole said...

Thank you, I needed to read this.
And, thank you, throughout the year for your blog.