December 31

“And we saw his glory”

Not miniatured in a capital:
gem of gold and reds,
round bright heads
of cherubs for suitable setting.
Ivory-paged monastic manuscript,
netting, let us say, a fortune
of twenty thousand or so.
No.
This is glory stripped
to naked poverty, not even tent,
not
stable, Shekinah, for sheltering.
Midnight angels must spear
with their awful holiness
the utter dark
that cloaks the clot
of ugly human suffering;
must fear
the God who dares enshrine
his Glory in man's stark
frail heart. Contradictory sign!