22 December 2008

Mary's Song

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Mary's Song

Blue homespun and the bend of my breast
keep warm this small hot naked star
fallen to my arms. (Rest …
you who have had so far to come.)
Now nearness satisfies
the body of God sweetly. Quiet he lies
whose vigor hurled a universe. He sleeps
whose eyelids have not closed before.
His breath (so slight it seems
no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps
to sprout a world. Charmed by doves' voices,
the whisper of straw, he dreams,
hearing no music from his other spheres.
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes
he is curtailed who overflowed all skies,
all years. Older than eternity, now he
is new. Now native to earth as I am, nailed
to my poor planet, caught
that I might be free, blind in my womb
to know my darkness ended,
brought to this birth for me to be new-born,
and for him to see me mended
I must see him torn.

~ Luci Shaw

{hat tip: study in brown}
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4 comments:

Marcus Goodyear said...

"...hearing no music from his other spheres..."

That is such a wonderful line.

Luci Shaw comes out to Laity Lodge a lot. She is a delightful person--every bit as wonderful and kind as you would hope.

Merry Christmas, Sharaya.

Sharaya Crossan said...

Marcus,

Wonderful to hear about Luci Shaw. :)

Merry Christmas to you as well! May His Peace and Grace abound...

Anonymous said...

I too am a Luci Shaw fan. Thanks for sharing this. (Came here via Good Word Editing).

Sharaya Crossan said...

Welcome, Dianne, to my little corner of the web world. :) I read this poem aloud to my family on Christmas day. It's become one of my favorites.

Have a blessed and fruitful New Year, Dianne.