I don’t not know if this form has a proper name. It is however my default poetic form using cadence and rhyme to drive it. I don’t know if I ever matured beyond Dr Seuss, but there is something in it that speaks to the inner me.
Padre
Colleen’s last poetry challenge of 2020, is to write a poem about hope, using our favourite poetry form (and on this occasion, it doesn’t have to be syllabic). She asks that we make these poems inspirational to others.
She stipulates that we should avoid negativity and politics.
We are to also tell us why the specific form we chose is our favourite.
The conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has just passed after an absence of hundreds of years. Some call this the Christmas Star or the Bethlehem Star. In this year of fires, floods, racial and social unrest, and a world-wide pandemic it is perhaps a time to take stock and to reflect on the story not of this planetary alignment, but of the star of the Gospel account. It was a harbinger of the coming of Emmanuel, God with us. It marked a transition in our relationship with the divine. The age of the Fall of Adam was coming to an end, and a promised saviour, the Messiah had come.
That did not mean that wars and rumours of wars, or fires, floods, and misfortune were coming to an end – 2020 surely shows us that. What it does say is there is a hope that is greater than those trials that is opened to us.
As I was reflecting on this I picked three YouTube videos to share which capture some of my thoughts. The first speaks of the coming of Emmanuel. The other two of the stresses and strains that Mary, the mother of Jesus may have faced in her obedience to God’s call. That obedience in the face of uncertainty and surely fears is a telling example for us all.
I wish all of you a happy Christmas, and pray that what ever the future holds for us, that we might cling to the Emmanuel – God with us.
The traditional spiritual song Wayfaring Stranger is a great use of the negative phrase used as a prompt by Jim Adams’ for today’s challenge. The song speaks of a heavenly rest where “no” problems of this life will be found. The song has been released by Johnny Cash (whose version I have posted the lyrics), and by Jack White in a version used in the Civil War film Cold Mountain. There is just something haunting about White’s version that makes me prefer it.
Lyrics
I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger Traveling through this world below There is no sickness, no toil, nor danger In that bright land to which I goI’m going there to see my Father And all my loved ones who’ve gone on I’m just going over Jordan I’m just going over homeI know dark clouds will gather ’round me I know my way is hard and steep But beauteous fields arise before me Where God’s redeemed, their vigils keep I’m going there to see my Mother She said she’d meet me when I comeSo, I’m just going over Jordan I’m just going over home I’m just going over Jordan I’m just going over home