Easter’s sun rises over Hartford
Happy Resurrection Day, my Lord!
I’ve one more poem-prayer for you
To mark this Lent – though yesterday it ended –
Written at the close of day, not dawn,
For as the sun arose this morn
I had come to worship.
And then it was a day of driving
And of worship, Lord
(And dinner. I will not deny the dinner).
Two worship services this morning,
Singing high and loud –
The songs of joy for tenors
Tend to go that way –
Then back into the car to drive
To where my daughter waited for me
At her college library,
Then we’re off to dinner
With the family
(Lots of dinner. I will not deny the dinner).
Hugs and laughter, smiles and stories,
Concern about each others’ health and happiness,
Ignoring yet another silver shower of snow
(On Easter? Really? Yes!)
Beyond the window.
Back into the car, back to college dorm,
Back to home (the snow now turned to rain)
And now, a poem-prayer, just one more,
To bring to close this Lenten litany,
This catalogue of Scriptural reflection,
Contemporary indignation,
Complaints about the weather
(Oh, my: I really did do that a lot.),
Occasional soul-searching,
Some self-congratulation
And some unredemptive condemnation of myself as well,
Leavened, just a bit, I pray
With spiritual wisdom
Resting there by grace.
Just one more, and this is done.
What sweet irony, that on this Easter Day,
As I complete this last lyric of Lent,
I recognize that for you,
This Resurrection Day is not an end,
But only the beginning.
Where I lay down this bittersweet
Task of devotion,
You take up anew
The labor to redeem the world.
I praise you, Risen Christ,
For the life you have reclaimed:
The life you have renewed
For all of us.
I praise you, Risen Christ,
For overcoming all the terrors
Of human pride, and sin, and greed,
And even an arrogant poet’s fumbling lines,
To demonstrate once more that when
Love faces evil, in the struggle
Grace will triumph in the end.
I close this poem, this series, and this day
Give me strength to serve tomorrow, I do pray.
Amen.
ordainedgeek 