She Was Asked
(After Wilde )
In other stories the god comes
himself. Disguised as a shower
of gold, a swan. He takes
without asking. Then
he is gone. Mary was asked.
By an angel. With flowers.
Lilies. Bold, wide open.
Wouldn't anyone be flabbergasted
by such as he was. Preposterous.
Pregnant without intercourse, a son -
of God. Human and eternal. Three
in one. She was the one who
had to choose, blind to the final
outcome. We have always
Known her answer. She did not.
Richard Osler, Advent I, December 3rd 2006
*
Come O Come Emmanuel
Carrying God was she
Overshadowed with joy or dread? Or
Maybe she thought it just a dream.
Even so, she might still have wondered
Or, at least
Calculated the days until
Overcome with obvious signs
Mary remembered everything;
Even her acceptance of impossibility:
Eternal
Mystery living in her.
Mary, mother-child
Aware
Now of what she chose
Under her heart –
Emmanuel – God With Us,
Love, living in darkness.
Richard Osler, Advent II, December 10th 2006
*
Troubled – Luke 1, Verse 29
You hear a voice telling you to risk everything,
even you’re your one carefully constructed life.
Sometimes it is like Mary carrying a promise
someone else has made and it lives inside you
as if it were yours but first you must claim it.
Will you welcome this angel whatever it is
that comes in the dark and talks against
all your thoughtful plans? Will you say ”yes?”
If you do there will be a journey, a difficult one,
a birth surrounded by strangers, and signs.
A baby to be honoured by kings. Such hope
wrapped up in something just that small.
Richard Osler, Advent III, December 17 2006
*
Puer Natus Est
(After Raine)
Power that comes
Undone on
Earth
Revolving round its star.
Newborn
At his mother’s breast
Tugging against eternity
Utterly
Satisfied
Even now, as
Star-maker, star-made within
Time.
Richard Osler, Advent IV, December 24th 2006
