Thursday 4 January 2018

The fire falls

The fire falls and burns behind eyes, within hands
Not long now until the chapter ends and the seal is opened?
And with Inequity unleashed, Justice’s heart will be devoured
O Mercy will weep at such a sight -
Sorrow carrying her young and burying them one by one
In the ancient earth
She will fall silent - no lament or praise to hail this new dawn

The Advent sign was not what we imagined -
Blackness yielding eternity from Time’s beating breast
It took such an age for this coming
Long-awaited, baited-breath, storm-stilled at last
The whirlwind reaped leaving landscapes bereft
Signs of life ripped up and just vanished

O Mercy, Sorrow and Justice
Bowed witnesses, foreheads kissing dust

O Love, to behold beauty born of a woman’s seed
And the perfection of completeness
No incantation accompanied this incarnation
Just silent-night wondering and a heartbeat buried so deep
In eternity bursting into smoke-filled air
With a cry to quench the fiercest of fires
And divide death’s domain in two forever


Sarah Larkin, Advent 2016 and 2017