Eastern OrthodoxPoetry

Dark and Still

There was a universe wrapped in dark
In silence and waiting for the “Hark!”
Planets moons and stars inside it spun
All processing around a rising sun
Within this whirling assembly
Was a whole world made for you and me

And dark and still, and still and dark
Waiting for “Let it be” and “Hark!”

There was a world wrapped in dark
In silence and waiting for the “Hark!”
The nations had sent their wisest men
To follow the stars to the where and when
To a little people chosen by God
Little lost lambs needing a shepherd’s rod

And dark and still, and still and dark
Waiting for “Let it be” and “Hark!”

There was a nation wrapped in dark
In silence and waiting for the “Hark!”
And a tiny town where lambs were schooled
And once upon a time kings there ruled
Back to her her children were sent
And in the darkness back they went

And dark and still, and still and dark
Waiting for “Let it be” and “Hark!”

There was a village wrapped in dark
In silence and waiting for the “Hark!”
But in her inns there was no more room
For a woman with child in her womb
Instead they found a stone-dark cave
Like one that one day would be a grave

And dark and still, and still and dark
Waiting for “Let it be” and “Hark!”

There was a woman wrapped in dark
In silence and waiting for the “Hark!”
Nine months before she said “Let it be
Just as the angel has said to me”
And in the darkest place on earth
To a little baby she gave birth

And dark and still, and still and dark
Waiting for “Let it be” and “Hark!”

There was a universe wrapped in dark
In silence and waiting for the “Hark!”
At last it came with joy so bright
Never again will there be night
And all will come to worship there
There’s room for all and still to spare

And light and joy, and joy and light
Came when the “Hark!” rang out that night

Kenneth O'Shaughnessy

Kenneth O'Shaughnessy

A Northerner by upbringing, Kenneth has lived in the South since his (first) college days. After returning to college, he began to do more than just dabble with writing, and has self-published a children's picture book, a middle-reader's book, and several collections of poetry. Baptized in the Roman Catholic church, raised in the fundamentalist Baptist church, and having spent time in the Reformed Baptist church, Kenneth settled down in the Eastern Orthodox church in 2006.

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