Bachiacca. Madonna and Child. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Beloved,
I sense a lingering lament
This Advent season
That crushing grasp of Love
My weary eyes are flushed with tears
My ears discern a distant weeping
A loneliness beyond all reason
A separateness on earth, a search
Beloved,
So much of You is lost
In the shapelessness of clutter
The false contours of life
Its sharp edges and illusions
Its starkness and its shimmering cold
Beloved,
This Advent season
Grant new birth within my frigid sleep
Intensify my desire and my adoring
A knowing beyond knowing
That underneath each trembling edge
Lies One sweet forgotten secret
The Gift of Love, a Child, the Christ, a Savior
BWS