Songbird
It’s the first thing I see each morning as my feet hit the floor. A watercolor print of a great mother bird sheltering someone underneath her wings. It is unclear what kind of person it is. What is clear is the look of fear and desperation on their face, hidden within a safety so tenuous. With reverence, I stand each […]
Courage Unparalleled – Dec. 24, 2021
She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’She did not submit with gritted teeth, raging, coerced.Bravest of all humans, consent illumined her.The room filled with its light,the lily glowed in it, and the iridescent wings.Consent, courage unparalleled,opened her utterly. –Denise Levertov, from her poem Annunciation
The Scene – Dec. 20, 2021
We know the scene: the room, variously furnished, almost always a lectern, a book; alwaysthe tall lily.Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,whom she acknowledges, a guest. But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentionscourage.The engendering Spiritdid not enter her without consent.God waited. She was freeto accept or […]
