The Last Advent
The rolling emerald hills,
the towering topaz rocks,
the earth-girding ocean
in its royal blue roar,
even the starred sky
in its silvery silence –
Like a sumptuous silk robe
and an embroidered curtain,
they will be drawn aside
to reveal the true splendour –
Then they will be discarded
like rough grey sloughs.
And new worlds will arise,
circles of festive fire.
Shadeless, doubtless,
deathless, boundless.
And we shall be alive
for the first time, forever.
Christina Egan © 2012
These lines remind us of the double meaning of ‘Advent’: the first coming of Jesus, when he was born to Mary, and the second coming at the end of times, when this world will be replaced by an eternal one beyond imagination.
Picture: from a 12th century codex of Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works.
