Hark!

The city workers took down our local nativity scene yesterday.
Maybe they got a late start or somebody had a party to go to
but they left the angel all by its lonesome just hanging there,
no swaddled infant to present or redneck shepherds to shush.
The city workers even removed the spotlights that accentuate
the scene so the heralding angel (I think its a she) hung there
suspended in darkness as a christmas crucifixion, her features
barely discernible to the naked eye and her once merry message
now a black angel’s growl: Forgive them. They count spiritual
coup and move on…still, still, still not knowing what they do.

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4 Comments

  1. Mike Graves on January 3, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    not knowing what WE do

  2. alice scott-ferguson on January 3, 2013 at 3:43 pm

    so thrilled by your writing…your style and your substance…thank you xx

  3. nwhannas on January 3, 2013 at 3:55 pm

    Maybe I’m missing your point, John. But I am, oddly perhaps, comforted by this dark and growling angel. If the angel still there, then the message is still true. And, God forgive me for being one of those slapdash workers all too often.

  4. wynnegraceappears on January 5, 2013 at 6:17 pm

    May we shine light on the shadows so that she may be seen, still heralding, in the dark places. Light removed, we have more to do. Or He has much to do through us…if we’re available. Both, And? Your words stir in the deep places. Thank you for your art, thank you for sharing your gift.

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