Saturday, November 29, 2008

November 30

Advent Summons
by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.

Come forth from the holy place,
Sweet Child,
Come from the quiet dark
Where virginal heartbeats
Tick your moments.

Come away from the red music
Of Mary's veins.
Come out from the Tower of David
Sweet Child,
From the House of Gold.

Leave your lily-cloister,
Leave your holy mansion,
Quit your covenant ark.
O Child, be born!

Be born, sweet Child,
In our unholy hearts.

Come to our trembling,
Helpless Child.
Come to our littleness,
Little Child,
Be born unto us
Who have kept the faltering vigil.
Be given, be born,
Be ours again.

Came forth from your holy haven,
Come away from your perfect shrine,
Come to our wind-racked souls
From the flawless tent,
Sweet Child.

Be born, little Child,
In our unholy hearts.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful!
Charlie, thank you for this ministry to our hearts and souls. I'll look forward to each day's poem...

Juca said...

Though language is almost a barrier, I will try to capture the beauty in each poem. Thanks for providing an escape during these days. Be blessed.

Charlie Lowell said...

I love the language in this poem- from your "flawless tent" to our "wind-racked souls". That a holy God would come to our unholy hearts. Quite a stark contrast... thanks be to God!

Juca said...

Yeah right, I have to go through the poem attentively to get those strong meanings behind the unusual expressions for me =]

RevJoel said...

a sublime and splendid start. you are building anticipation for our anticipation. wicked clever.

kurtfm said...

Yes what language! After a few reads the constant 'come', 'come', 'come' started to penetrate. What an incredible invitation this is, a mixture of begging and longing for him to descend into that fragile form for broken us.

Unknown said...

Beautiful poem. I was struck by the "red music of Mary's veins" into the contrast of the Tower of David... such vivid pictures. Great way to start. Thanks Charlie.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful, quiet poem. The idea of your blog is wonderful, I think I might link to it from mine for the season...what a meaningful Christmas treat.