Advent Meditation

As Christmas approaches, I offer a poem written about a year ago, which was workshopped in a creative writing class at Pomona College.

Advent Meditation in the Vocative Case

O, my God,

Pure and ever-giving mother of

All things alive I beg

Your mercy on this brow-

Beaten soul.

O, my God,

Take on tender

Flesh again, be of woman

Born again, infant carried by

One like me, swaddled and

Laid low, on the lam, for I

Could not accept you

Any other way.

O, my God,

I await you.

I can’t remember when I

Last was warm. I am

Breathless,

Expectant,

Half-expecting

This spark to miscarry, this

Promise to be

Stillborn—

O, my God,

What is hope if not

The voice of scandal crying

Out into the empty

Wilderness?

May you savor these last few days of contemplative waiting. Amen.