Poetry Column for December 2021
I pray that these Christmas poems bless you during this wonderful season.
Dr. Latayne C. Scott・12/10/21
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. -- Philippians 2:5-7
CHRIST, COME SOFTLY
(acrostic poem)
Christ, come softly: the uneven way
Has been prepared. Though angels
Rampant crowd the skies, each one
In his own way praising Thee-- Softly,
Softly come. Through tribulation and joy,
This night whispers hope.
(In exultation, my heart's own voice
Sings! And even the voiceless and deaf rejoice!)
But silvered silence sighs. The skies are emptied now, and
Only for now, this Logos-Child speaks not.
Remembering vows, and veils, and the cup to come, He
Now sleeps. Softly, softly: Christ.
How like the gentle Son of God who never owned a home to be unwilling to "put anyone out" even for His birth. Everything we know of His early years bespeaks humility, gentleness, wisdom, and grace. He's the gentleman who gave up His seat for us--a throne in Heaven.
-----------------------------
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.
~ Luke 2:19-20
Lost Melody
Now that the angels all have gone away
The shepherds, too, with them
Staffs no longer rattling on paving stones;
And those old fog-eyed men
With sand in their beards,
They, too, have disappeared
Like their auger bones
Cast into the eastern horizon.
And now I can’t remember the song from the ruptured sky.
Only the words, though I thought I never would forget that;
Could teach it to the Child,
Could remember where it went up
What the pitches were
Every word
Every note
But it has disintegrated into a chant
I mumble to myself, and to
Him
Glory
Peace
Savior
Look! He has found His voice.
He is searching for his Hands,
One seeking the other,
Both seeking His mouth.
Some day He will remind me
Some day He will rejoice over me with singing
Every word
Every note
One of the loveliest promises of God, the very creator of music itself, is that He is saving His best songs for us. Zephaniah 3:17 says He will someday rejoice over each of us, singing to us.
Until that time, we will sing to Him.
Dr. Latayne C. Scott is the recipient of Pepperdine University’s Distinguished Christian Service Award for “Creative Christian Writing,” and is Trinity Southwest University’s Author in Residence. Her newest book is Talking with Teens about Sexuality: Critical Conversations about Social Media, Gender Identity, Same-Sex Attraction, Pornography, Purity, Dating, Etc. with Dr. Beth Robinson (Bethany Books.) The author of over two dozen published books, including Passion, Power, Proxy, Release (TSU Press) in which some of these these poems appear, she lives and writes in New Mexico. She maintains three websites: Latayne.com, mapmyfaith.org , and Representationalresearch.com.