I.
“Even so, Lord, quickly come…”[1]
Under the apple trees frost heavy as sin
whitens bleached grass, holds dawn.
Gray cloud backlit with peach color
spreads south and one black cat hunched
on the splintered railing,
vigilant for mouse, for fox,
ears twitching at crow call
waits for the sun.
II.
“Hymn and chant and high thanksgiving,
And unwearied praises be…”[2]
On a dark day of no particular glory,
over the wet streets of Ellsworth --
where storekeepers have lit windows,
swagged lamp posts with balsam
as if this were any other year --
above the river in flood after storm
comes the matter-of-fact honk of geese
ready to settle. A young man
pulling his fiancée along the path
from the stores to the library
stops and gently
turns her face to the sky.
III.
“Born on earth to save us…”[3]
In the cold barn, I reach into a cardboard box
burrow in peat moss to find
carrots, firm, sweet as they were last September.
Rubbing them in my hands, brushing off the dirt
gently breaking the fragile roots with which they still
seek life, I carry them inside.
Alice Aldrich Hildebrand
[1] Come, Ye Thankful People, Come: Alford
[1] Of the Father’s Love Begotten: Aurelius Clemens Prudentius
[1] On This Day Earth Shall Ring: Piae Cantiones
Advent Calendar
Dawn of a New Day