II. The Rustling Grass
In the rustling grass
I hear him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.
MALTBIE BABCOCK
Cradle
She gave birth to her first-born son
And wrapped him in swaddling clothes,
And laid him in a manger.
LUKE 2:7
For us who have only known approximate fathers
And mothers manquƩ, this child is a surprise:
A sudden coming true of all we hoped
Might happen. Hoarded hopes fed by prophecies,
Old sermons and song fragments now cry
Coo and gurgle in the cradle, a babbling
Proto-language which as soon as it gets
A tongue (and we, of course, grow open ears)
Will say the big nouns: joy, glory, peace;
And live the best verbs: love, forgive, save.
Along with the swaddling clothes the words are washed
Of every soiling sentiment, scrubbed clean
Of all failed promises, then hung in the worldās
Backyard dazzling white, billowing gospel.
Dream
ā¦ an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
MATTHEW 1:20
Amiably conversant with virtue and evil,
The righteousness of Joseph and wickedness
Of Herod, Iām ever and always a stranger to grace.
I need this annual angel visitation
ā sudden dive by dream to reality ā
To know the virgin conceives and God is with us.
The dream powers its way through winter weather
And gives me vision to see the Jesus gift.
Light from the dream lasts a year. Impervious
To equinox and solstice it makes twelve months
Of daylight by which I see the crĆØche where my
Redeemer lives. Archetypes of praise take shape
Deep in my spirit. As autumn wanes I count
The days ātil I will have the dream again.
Tree
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
And a branch shall grow out of his roots.
ISAIAH 11:1
Jesseās roots, composted with carcasses
Of dove and lamb, parchments of ox and goat,
Centuries of dried up prayers and bloody
Sacrifice, now bear me gospel fruit.
Davidās branch fed on kosher soil
Blossoms a messianic flower, and then
Ripens into a kingdom crop, conserving
The fragrance and warmth of spring for winter use.
Holy Spirit, shake our family tree;
Release your ripened fruit to our outstretched arms.
Iād like to see my children sink their teeth
Into promised land pomegranates
And Canaan grapes, bushel gifts of God,
While I skip a grace rope to a Christ tune.
Present
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given ā¦ and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace.
ISAIAH 9:6
Half-sick with excitement and under garish lights
I do it again, year after year after year
I canāt wait to plunder the boxes, then show
And tell my friends: Look what I got!
I rip the tissues from every gift but find
That all the labels lied. Stones.
And my heart a stone. āDead in trespasses
And sin.ā The lights go out. Later my eyes,
Accustomed to the dark, see wrapped
In Christ-foil and ribboned in Spirit-colors
The multi-named messiah, love labels
On a faith shape, every name a promise
And every promise a present, made and named
All in the same breath. I accept.
Kiss
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
Righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
PSALM 85:10
Stray affections, following their noses,
Get me into all kinds of trouble, from trampling
Beds of roses to scattering unbagged garbage.
And then the trails grow cold. It is āwinter
All the time and Christmas never comes,ā
ātil pulled on tip-toe to get it full on the lips
Under the psalmic mistletoe Iām kissed.
Peace compressed into lips that make a sign
Of love slowly releases eternity
Into time: Iām touched into joy.
Always awkward with h...