Poetry for Epiphany
We invited parishioner-artists to create an offering(s) around something that is commonplace that has transformed during 2020. It may be an Epiphany that has come to them. It may be how the time of Advent rest transformed them. It may be simply something that inspires them.
Participating Poets
Lauren Hanisian, Jim Votaw
TWILIGHT
by Lauren Hanisian
This spring evening falling into night
I rest suspended on my porch swing
mulling the multitude of possibilities
contained within a moment, knowing
a cocked eyebrow has a myriad of
meanings and a typo can tip the scales,
unaware of lilacs on the breeze,
the smell of living soil
swelling the air.
Destiny is such a grandiose word
my mind swoons with it,
imagining its length and width
cut to fit a pattern, the scraps
that mattered once so very much
discarded in the trash
as fireflies flicker through
the neighborhood without
wondering if they should.
Suddenly my cat lands in my lap,
licks my chin with her dainty
tongue. Stroking her cashmere
fur, tuning in to her soothing
purr, my mind unwinds to
notice moonlight turning
pink peonies to white,
their trusting blooms
wide open to the night.
~Epiphany 2020~
by Jim Votaw
Christmas Day 2019 –
We celebrated
The brilliant star,
Shepherds and sheep,
Angels singing “Gloria”,
A miracle birth,
The Christmas child.
Twelve days later –
The Epiphany,
Three Kings, Wise Men, the Magi,
They never appeared.
The star faded,
Viral darkness arrived,
Encircled our world.
Lost in chaos, the Kings wandered –
As we lived with raging sickness,
Exploding poverty and hunger,
Uncontrollable storms, forest fires,
The black hole of loneliness,
Misery of too many kinds,
Death at every turn.
Violence and protests erupted –
Joining the virus,
Marching through streets,
Dividing us with hatred,
Exposing broken lives,
Debating our trust in science,
Our country, each other.
We hid –
In our houses,
Alone in the darkness,
Watching the madness,
Longing for truth,
Waiting for a sign,
Some measure of hope.
Then the child spoke –
Gently saying to us,
“I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me
Will never walk in darkness,
But will have the light of life.”
And we knew His voice.
On the horizon was His star,
And Three Kings with gifts
Coming home another way.
Image credit: Pittman, Lauren Wright. Shining Hope, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57077 [retrieved January 5, 2021]. Original source: http://www.lewpstudio.com - copyright by Lauren Wright Pittman.