Tag: Annunciation

Fig Tree

Originally for this Sunday, but being posted on the Annunciation:

The fig tree does not blossom;
no grape swells on the vine
that twines around the crossbeam—
yet we shall drink the wine.

And though your arms are empty,
and withered is your root
as barren as the fig tree,
you, too, shall bear good fruit.

For something sweet is growing
to burden barren wood,
its sap forever flowing,
its roots where Adam stood.

It blossomed in the desert
with Moses drawing near,
the Godhead fully present—
Take off your sandals here

and see the flame that dances
where nothing yet had bloomed:
It burns along your branches,
but you are not consumed.

A fount in you is flowing
and never will it cease,
for Christ himself is growing
all on our barren trees.

Traditional icon of Our Lady of the Burning Bush (Neopalimaya Kupina). By Anonymous – http://days.pravoslavie.ru/Images/ii2914&263.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3639213

Eve of the Annunciation

This is the final moment of “before,”
the last day of our unheard crying out.
Tomorrow comes what's never come before:
The first drop ending eras of our drought.

Unseen, as minuscule as all our hope:
one drop, but it's enough to break the light
and show the wonders hidden from our scope
since first we hid ourselves from heaven's sight.

One drop tomorrow, presaging a flood—
and all our fears of drowning in that day
are washed of all the centuries of mud
that clogged our wheels—it opens up a way.

Our vision of the world breaks all apart
in colors that were always buried there
when heaven beats within a human heart.
You come, O Christ, to lay all heaven bare.

Today, though, all the sky is merely blue,
unclouded, empty, gaping, barren, dry.
Tomorrow, Lord, when Mary welcomes you,
your wonders will begin to fill our sky.
A colorful rainbow and ring-billed gull By Rhododendrites – OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132660372

The Message of the Angel

And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
—Luke 1:26-38

Rejoice, O greatly troubled,
uncertain and afraid:
Though mountains shake to rubble,
the Lord is on his way.

Rejoice through every sadness,
O highly favored one:
Though oceans rise in anguish,
yet you shall bear a son.

Now you both trust and tremble
and ask how this can be;
though David's throne stands empty,
his son shall set you free.

Recall the prophets' tellings:
Rejoice amid your fear,
for God comes to his dwelling
and even now draws near.

Rejoice in what was promised;
remember what was done.
The Lord has not forgotten,
and mercy still shall come.

Though now you sit in darkness,
for joy you shall yet sing:
This shadow now upon you
is God the Most High's wings.

Annunciation by Armenian manuscript illuminator Toros Roslin, 13th century By uploader Koperczak (talk) 08:52, 26 March 2009 (UTC), Toros Roslin – Miniatures Armeniennes, Ayastan, Erevan 1967, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6341938

Eclipse: Annunciation 2024

We cannot bear the burning light;

we do not love the dark:

The sun, dimmed for our naked sight,

becomes a ring-crowned spark.



See how the night enfolds the noon,

death overshadows us:

Life hides itself behind the moon;

Christ hides himself in dust.



Oh, but the wonder of that sight!

Oh, but the terror, too—

Shadows dissolve into the night

while the sun stands at noon!



In the beginning was the Word

telling the light to be—

time was, another voice is heard:

Let it be done to me.



Lift up your heads and do not fear;

look with unshaded eye:

See how your hope is ever near.

Soon the light dawns on high!



True God from God and light from light

is swaddled in the dark.

Oh, blessèd is the cov'ring night!

Blessèd the crowning spark!

1904 By Joseph Norman Lockyer – Internet Archive identifier: LockyerAstronomia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85851566

May It Be Done To Me

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26-38
May it be done to me

according to your word,

that what begins in me shall be

the mercy of the Lord.



For I know God has seen,

though high he sits above,

all that I am or I have been,

yet looks on me with love.



In love he lifts me up

and fills my hungry soul

'til I become the flowing cup:

Through me his rivers roll.



These waters still run on

to break through dams and walls

and cast the mighty towers down

and lift the weak and small.



This flood he turns to wine

himself becomes the feast,

shaped from the little that is mine,

to fill our every need.



I am, and still shall be,

the handmaid of my Lord.

I say, may it be done to me

according to your word.

The angel Gabriel’s message to Mary. Altar screen from Fet stave church, Sogn. By Unknown author – Kulturhistoriskt lexikon för nordisk medeltid. Helsingfors 1956, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57525940

Annunciation 2023

For these readings:

As deep as the nether world
and as high as the sky,
here in her body curled
and hid from all eyes,

the Word that spoke everything,
all that is, in six days,
as silent as angels' wings
in her waters plays.

He vibrates to hear her now,
her heart and her voice,
the maid to whom angels bow
and sing out, “Rejoice!”

As all earth will tremble soon,
feel him flutter inside,
when darkness shall come at noon
and graves open wide:

So shall the world groan with her
when the moment draws near.
The Word will cry out for her
in blood and in tears.

Alla 18. Esposizione Biennale Internazionale di Arte del 1932 è presente con otto opere, tra cui l’Annunciazione in un Tempio d’Aria esempio di Arte Sacra e Futurismo. By Mlemmi – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113266814

Let It Be

I do not know your purpose
or comprehend your will,
but I have been your servant:
Keep me your servant still.

The word that you have spoken
has broken over me
for healing of the broken—
O Lord, then let it be.

Let it be, in your mercy,
that grace through me should spill,
that hungry ones and thirsty
with all good things be filled.

Not by my hand are scattered
the mighty or the proud,
but let my pride be shattered,
my arrogance cast down,

that when you come redeeming
the locust-eaten years,
my feeble eyes may see it,
though wearied by my tears.

And though those years stretch onward,
give me the oil I need
to watch while night creeps dawnward
and wait the quick'ning seed.

The annunciation. Etching. Iconographic Collections By https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/a3/41/20944ef315adce8be7738e4eaf5f.jpgGallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0048041.htmlWellcome Collection gallery (2018-04-03): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/t6ahx46w CC-BY-4.0, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36664860

Annunciation 2022

The slanted light through shadow falls,
and light and shadow cover me:
He brings me to his banquet hall
and spreads his banner over me.

Rejoice, O highly favored one!
The dove's voice fills our land once more:
I shall conceive and bear a son;
the young stag stands beside the door.

And so my love becomes my own—
he feeds me where the lilies bloom—
and I am ever his alone,
who fills the garden of my womb.

A circled garden, fountain sealed,
with myrrh and aloes, ever spice:
These are the fruits my love shall yield;
this is the water giving life.

But deepest waters cannot quench
the flame that in this garden swells,
for oh! my love is strong as death,
and oh! my love is fierce as hell!

His love is better far than wine,
and there is perfume in his kiss.
Behold the handmaid: He is mine,
and let it be that I am his!
The Annunciation in Armenian art by Toros Taronetsi, 1323 By Toros Taronatsi – Donabédian, Patrick (1987) (in French) Les arts arméniens, Paris: Mazenod, p. 277 ISBN: 2850880175., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=96543029

Fiat

For the feast of the Immaculate Conception, but a day late.

The sun in all its glory,
the moon that glows and fades:
This is your mercy toward me
that fills my nights and days,
the very earth that holds me,
the waters running down,
and every word you've told me,
all woven as a crown.

My body like my mother's, 
the blood within my veins,
the heart that skips and flutters,
the breath that won't remain:
They hear your whisper call me,
your angel speak my name.
Your shadow falls upon me;
I cannot stay the same.

Now you have turned me over,
have raised me from the dust
and built yourself a tower,
a body from my rust.
And all my world is shaken,
the high stars toppled down,
when in my flesh you quicken
and in my waters drown.

Your name is no less holy
hung on an infant's arms:
the mighty one made lowly
to fill the empty heart.
Your promise you remembered
though long the years have been,
and all creation trembles
now you have called it kin.
By Efstathios Karousos – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110836760Panel da Anunciación, un dos cinco paneis que se conservan do retablo de Santa María de Pontevedra, tallado por Xácome de Prado ca. 1626. O retablo exponse no Museo de Pontevedra. By P.Lameiro – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38356072

Annunciation 2021

How is it that today alone
I look on what has always been?
Such grace was never to me shown—
I looked before, but had not seen.

But now I hear the call to start
in every breath the silence brings.
How did the darkness on my heart
become the shadow of your wings?

Each moment asks me once again
if I will be as you have said;
each pulse that beats, I breathe, “Amen,”
and I will do 'til I am dead.

If only I had always heard;
if only I had always seen—
but now you've given me your Word
that ever shall be and has been.

O God, do not take him from me,
but let me ever hear that voice
that stings more fiercely than the bee,
more sweetly than all honeyed joys!

But if you do, if he should go,
then honed and hollowed, still I'd say
what I have known, I yet will know.
Though light were flown, I see the day.
Annunciation in miniature By Unknown author – http://staff.xu.edu/~tan/links/Islam-1.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4005509