Many times in the last week, when Mr. Glad and I have put on our jackets and gone out the front door for a neighborhood walk, we have been confused by the pleasant springtime air, the sun shining down on us. Briefly pleased, then remembering that it all means drought. It's a year when I can appreciate this Christmas poem.
Advent
And there was already light:
A stainless steel glare breaking through the eucalypts;
The sky enamel, cobalt-washed, lapis lazuli blue.
The north wind blew in from the desert:
Drowning in the hot scent of mock orange and ripe mango
We longed for the cool change and the sea breeze.
It was already the longest day:
Why should I await the Light of the World
When I already have a surfeit?
Into the crowded starry midnight,
The neon and electric city festival,
Into the early dawn jangling with birdsong,
Into my summer:
Then came the Christ Child into the brightness
And he was more than the sun.
-- Katherine Firth
Thanks to Anna of Peacocks and Sunflowers for this poem that can be read with notes on the author's site.
4 comments:
Oh, I love this! So beautiful. Thanks for posting it, GJ!
xofrances
Thank you for sharing this poem. Of course I went over to the author's site to find out what her notes were. So interesting about summer season in the Southern Hemisphere juxtaposed against all the Christmas traditions of darkness, snow, cold, etc.
No real comment, just an appreciation for the sentiment you expressed, and for the poem. Thank you.
I love the poem, yes, it has been so beautiful and now we do get the cold. It will be so nice I think, now if we could get some more rain,
I love the things that you share.
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