Tuesday, December 13

Into the Longest Hour by Madeleine L’Engle 

Read this poem and take some time to imagine the image that the poet paints with her words.

It was a time like this,
War & tumult of war,
a horror in the air.
Hungry yawned the abyss–
and yet there came the star
and the child most wonderfully there.

It was time like this
of fear & lust for power,
license & greed and blight–
and yet the Prince of bliss
came into the darkest hour
in quiet & silent light.

And in a time like this
how celebrate his birth
when all things fall apart?
Ah! wonderful it is
with no room on the earth
the stable is our heart.

Text from "WinterSong: Christmas Readings by Madeleine L'Engle & Luci Shaw" Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Regent College Publishing, Vancouver, British Columbia.