Ash from ash we are;
dust, and dust again.
But on us shines a star,
and music fills the plain.
Deserts meet the seas;
earth and rain make mud:
Christ wed himself to these,
God's life in flesh and blood.
Flowers fade at dusk;
rivers chase the sea—
Christ came as one of us.
O God, how can it be?
Heaven filling earth;
God-with-us drawn near
to join us by birth,
though we are nothing here.
Dust our dust has blest,
frailty treasured now:
Eternity enfleshed,
and every knee shall bow.
Jesus, Son of God,
mercy born as man,
who shaped us from the sod:
Oh, hold us in your hand!
Kate Bluett 