even as Jesu was accounted for in song
Lo, how a rose...
I see the Star so once upon
again, rising in the East
in a wilderness where many
worship the solstice instead;
concelebrate an empty feast
in the dark of their unknowing
then the Rose weeps
in quiescent, quintissential December.
dear God oh dear relief
above all battlefields
the Rose that was, that is
vivid again oh unfailing bloom of our hearts
rejoice say the angels though the worlds fall apart
again and again
the cherished refrain the
Maytime of our sleeting rains
rose oh rose of all our pain resolved
the Light sustaining us. the hidden well
because because he conquered hell and death
petal by petal and anguishing breath by breath
though the blasts of cryptic scorn
had bound us fast whenever we sang so
and caroled it's true
there is a flowering toward December
of a perfume bearing us homeward
despite what man can do
and blind himself to.
like the child I was. I am
I do grow restless
awaiting the Pearl of that dawn.
mary angela douglas 3 december 2022;7 february 2023
No comments:
Post a Comment