A poem may be likened to lyrics not yet set to music,
but in some way evoking its sense.
As with a close-up photograph, a poem focuses
on a specific image to view wonders beneath its surface.
A poem listens for an echo from other times and places--
worthy voices that instruct the moment.
Translation
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
~ Mark 11:9
The language we have spoken all our life
and in its daily practice memorized
is mute before the presence of the Word.
Approaching the Jerusalem of God,
Christ reset matrimony’s broken bones;
named wealth a widow’s lavish poverty.
To heal the blind, He taught the facts of death:
great temple stones prostrate before the Door;
unyielding Israel a fruitless vine.
As Master come to pay His servants’ debts,
He plundered Caesar’s coinage for the King,
Whom Zion’s daughters hailed Anointed One.
We taste the feast of sacrifice fulfilled
and see new heavens and new earth ignite:
the Spirit’s fruit refreshing Eden’s branch.
Accept the garb of His identity
and trust the promises we know by heart.
Read constantly the perfect mind of Christ.
Speak the tongue of our new origin.
but in some way evoking its sense.
As with a close-up photograph, a poem focuses
on a specific image to view wonders beneath its surface.
A poem listens for an echo from other times and places--
worthy voices that instruct the moment.
Translation
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
~ Mark 11:9
The language we have spoken all our life
and in its daily practice memorized
is mute before the presence of the Word.
Approaching the Jerusalem of God,
Christ reset matrimony’s broken bones;
named wealth a widow’s lavish poverty.
To heal the blind, He taught the facts of death:
great temple stones prostrate before the Door;
unyielding Israel a fruitless vine.
As Master come to pay His servants’ debts,
He plundered Caesar’s coinage for the King,
Whom Zion’s daughters hailed Anointed One.
We taste the feast of sacrifice fulfilled
and see new heavens and new earth ignite:
the Spirit’s fruit refreshing Eden’s branch.
Accept the garb of His identity
and trust the promises we know by heart.
Read constantly the perfect mind of Christ.
Speak the tongue of our new origin.
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