Our poem for Adventia, day 7 is by none other than the great Polish-American poet, Czesław Milosz. This was first published in Warsaw, 1944.
Tag: Advent
Adventia, day 6
Our offering for Adventia, day 6 comes to us by way of the Adventus Project, which did a wonderful Advent exploration a couple years ago. And, of course, C. S. Lewis never disappoints.
What the Bird Said Early in the Year
C.S. Lewis
I heard in Addison’s Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.
Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.
This year time’s nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.
This time they will not lead you round and back
To Autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.
This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.
Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,
Quick, quick, quick, quick! – the gates are drawn apart.
Adventia, day 5
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 –1894), born in London, was an English writer of romantic, devotional, and children’s poetry. She is also famous for having written the texts of two well-known Christmas carols: “In the Bleak Midwinter” and “Love Came Down at Christmas.”
This poem combines Advent and Lenten themes; the sacrificial Christ pursuing the hospitality and kindness represented by the inn where there was no room for the holy family. The question ever asked of us, “is there room for the Christ within?”
Don’t forget to pop over and visit Real Poets Daily. They’re a wealth of inspiring poetry!
Adventia, day 4
For Adventia, day 4 I submit a poem I composed a few years ago. Rough around the edges perhaps, but I hope it scratches at the surface enough to help us find place in our Advent journey all the same. May the angst, ambivalence, austerity, and frustration of waiting be rewarded in our common longing for the coming Light.
We Wait
Too many moons after too many suns and still –
we wait.
To arise to yet another day with no sight of promised end –
we wait.
My great, great, great grandparents told this same tale. Still –
we wait.
My great, great, great grandchildren, will they tell this same tale?
We wait.
For once pliable, elastic, hope-filled words, spoken from that creepy prophet guy –
we wait.
In hopscotch rhymes, coffee table books, Sunday paper riddles –
we wait.
Faithless ones mock. Faithful ones pretend to believe. Seeking ones struggle to hope –
we wait.
Stuck. In stasis. Solitary, floating in an endless ocean of shark infested water –
we wait.
Nine-year-old boys sneak their umpteenth grab of dinner being prepared a year after lunch –
we wait.
We’ve long ago forgotten or even care about what we were waiting for –
we wait.
Will we even know when the waiting is over?
Still,
we wait…
Adventia, day 3
For Adventia, day 3, we are graced by the always luminous words of Welsh Anglican bishop, poet, writer, theologian, and former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.
Adventia, day 2
In my first installment in this series, I explained the origins of my strange, made up word. “Adventia;” as I see it, a poetic foray into the headwaters of Advent – waiting, hoping, and preparing, together with Fragmentia, those literary illuminations of God’s in-breaking into our world to which we may unite the former.
For most of these we’re taking our cue from a favourite Instagram site of mine – #realpoetsdaily Today, we’re blessed by this gem by T. S. Eliot, excerpted from “The Four Quartets.”
Adventia, day 1
No, the above is not meant as some cheap attempt at a New Joizy accent with the word adventure. Let’s just call it the purposeful amalgamation of Advent and Fragmentia. Let it be a place where the illumination of God’s in-breaking into our world found in the Advent narratives unites with the fragments of literature and faith and life seeking to bring us to deeper understanding of it all.
Advent is upon us once more. With it comes a barrage of books and practices all aimed at helping us get the most from the experience. Last year I chose to post a daily poetic reflection on my poetry website. This year I’d like to do something similar here on innerwoven. It gives me opportunity to dive deep into some of the best words about the best time of the year; the beginning of the church’s calendar at Advent. These poems are both old and new and are found in various places.
For Advent, day 1 we begin with a gorgeous piece by Sally Thomas, which I saw first on a favourite Instagram channel, #realpoetsdaily
Here is “First Sunday” by Sally Thomas ( @sallytnnc )
Adventia, last day
Advent reaches its apex on Christmas Eve, pregnant with longing, when a pregnant teenager will surrender to the world a Saviour and light is restored to all that is dark. For this, we offer you this poem by Sir John Betjeman entitled simply, “Christmas.”
Thanks for sharing this journey with me, and…Merry Christmas!
Adventia, day 26
We edge ever closer to the end of Advent and the beginning of Christmastide, or the season of Emmanuel. For today, we enjoy this gem from Alfred Lord Tennyson entitled, “In Memoriam XXVIII.”
Adventia, day 25
As now our days begin again to lengthen, I welcome you to this Adventia journey, day 25, with this lovely wee poem by R. S. Thomas, “Song.”
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