when i wake in the night
reason once more shattering into darkness
it is love that leads me back to light

a life incredible, vivid, excellent.
when i wake in the night
reason once more shattering into darkness
it is love that leads me back to light
we are not the girls we were
now with sorrow-hollowed faces
and sufferings’ silver threads
mingling with the gold
the good words sarah shared
sang me to sleep
and now stand we all upon the brink of mystery
for to us, the empty-handed, there has been a child born
uncreated, He has entered human history
life eternal, swaddled in the flesh that we have worn
wonder-wrapt, she walked the rocky road as
it wound its way between the hills to a stone house
tucked between the trees.
O Bread of Life, You are the
true food that satisfies our hungry
souls.
the old man’s hunger had left his stomach hollow.
how am i to know this? he had asked the angel.
elizabeth’s womb lies barren; no seed
has ever taken root. and i am no better than a wizened stem.
how You bend the universe
to meet me where i least expect it —
father Abraham was promised a son. but
remember — sarah laughed. can new things come from an
old body? can life spring forth from what is dead?
O Eternal Light, it is death’s night You have saved us from;
on those in the land of shadow and sorrow
You have dawned.