My mom has always said that everything that happens in life is either a “blessing” or an “adventure”.
Well, friends, if your 2018 has been anything like mine so far, your days are full of “adventures” (that do, indeed, contain within themselves much blessing and grace), and the last thing you need is one more blog to read.
I did, however, promise a poem for each Sunday in Advent AND one for Christmas Eve. This practicing of Advent through poetry has been my tradition for a few years now, but never before have the poems developed into such an intricate, tightly-bound cycle as they have this year. The poem I wrote for Christmas Eve truly finishes the series, and ’twould be remiss of me not to share it with you.
Besides, as we prepare to leave the Christmas season behind us and turn our faces to Epiphany, with Ash Wednesday and Lent hovering on the horizon and the new year stretching before us with all of its responsibilities, possibilities, and unforeseen “adventures” (and blessings) looming in the foreground like the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, it is right and good to meditate once more on the Hope that Christmas gives.
And so, my friends, here is a sonnet for Christmas Eve, and for all the days that lie ahead for all of us. May it help you plant your Hope once more in the rich and relentlessly fruitful soil of Emmanuel, and may the year ahead bring a great harvest of Joy.
(Remember: in this series, the last line of the previous poem informs the first line of the next poem. If you want to refresh your memory, you can re-read the poem for the Fourth Sunday of Advent here.)
Christmas Eve
“Emmanuel!” – the hidden river sings
As still snow-silence softens all the world
“Emmanuel!” – hear whispered answerings
Arise from holes where life, asleep, lies curled
“Emmanuel!” – the joyous, hallowed song
Still pulses underneath this mortal crust
“Emmanuel!” – although the night be long
And golden dreams have crumbled into dust
“Emmanuel!” – as winter holds within
Itself the promise of the coming spring
“Emmanuel!” – so I, frozen in sin
Shall rise on Christmas morn and, joyful, sing
“Emmanuel!” – the music bursts forth still:
Love has been born, and is, and always will
Rich! Rich!! Rich!!?
Beautiful and thought provoking!