For Brier, who believed.

1.

In the hush before creation -

a silent waiting night -

God withheld from human knowing

one perfect point of light.

Then, deep within the human dreaming,

placed longings older far than thought

for the one who, coming,

would make the mystery known.

Patiently the ancient sages

keep the flame of faith alive -

weave the truth in myth and legend

shape the songs of hope:

seek a form, a voice, a vision

of the one who comes.

2.

The summer sun hangs, hot and heavy

high above the ochred earth.

The purple mountains, ageless, silent

watch across the shimmered plain.

Two small figures in the landscape,

travelling their destined way,

turn aside to seek the coolness

of a shadowed mountain pool,

then resume their patient journey,

carrying the hope of ages

deep into the heartland.

Spirit breathes across the desert

whispers that the time is soon:

that the light of all creation

is held within a mother's womb

3.

An endless sky  spreads its velvet canopy

across the heavens,

and a silent, secret hush enfolds the land.

The gathering stars grow brilliant overhead.

On a lyrical and mystic night,

clear and cold and still,

one perfect point of light,

prepared before the worlds began,

blazes in the sky, and all the stars sing glory.

All the stars sing glory.

A child is born in the night

and all the stars sing glory.

4.

The morning sun spreads the dew-drenched land

with a dazzle of scattered sunlight.

The earth exults in a brilliant day

and carpets the ground with flowers.

The soaring birds break the morning sky

and sing of the day's delight,

cascading carols as they fly

they carry the news to the farthest coast

that the light that was held in the mind of God

before the stars were born

can now be seen in a new-born child -

the promised Emmanuel.

 

© Neil Quintrell 1987/1993