Advent Poem Day 12
When the wind is gone,
and all is silent,
there will you find
the small voice calling you,
beckoning you, to come
and worship in the streets,
in the taverns and pubs
filled with fanciful wishes
for dollars and the sense
to realize they are gone,
or meaningless.
Money comes and goes,
like the wind,
but when it is gone,
and all is silent,
there is no small voice
but the voice of debt.
Drowning in debt, in drink,
in the silence that proceeds
the foreclosers call to auction,
to plunder the treasures of debtors,
to celebrate the grand misfortune:
that we are all in the system
for better or worse,
til death do us part,
and part with the world
and our money also,
to come to the door
of the unknown
and open it.
Will there be a toll?
This is the twelth poem in a series of Advent poems on Everyday Liturgy. Want
to join the fun? Let us know about your Advent poetry (or art, or songs, or
anything creative!).
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Thomas, I’ve been neglect to comment previously, but I absolutely love this Advent exercise. Very inspirational, and I will use this one tonight as a centering moment for our bible study on the Economy.
I’m sure it is tough, daily writings. Hopefully the knowledge that it is reaching into the analog world will lift your spirits for one day!
Jeremy, thanks for commenting.
For me the ever-increasing darkness before the Winter Solstice, the economic woes of our country, the desperation of "your kingdom come,"have all been deep metaphors I have been trying to draw on.
My wife always wonders at how I write such melancholy or dark poetry, which happens a lot, when I am not the type of person who is glum or depressed all the time.
People write poetry in very different ways; for me, I write by throwing myself into a story or thought and then chasing it…and unfortunately these are dark times, both liturgically and worldly, so I think the poems have taken on that tone.
As to debt and the economy specifically, I ache for those who are drowning in it. N.T. Wright makes the profound statement in The Lord and His Prayer that "forgive us our debts" has a double meaning: forgive us our money debts and our sin debts. I am discouraged to see so many people, both Christ followers and world followers, drowning in debt. But the way of Christ is the way of a community journeying together, and I am elated and encouraged to hear stories about Christian communities who are on the margins and are living debt free: like the Amish in a NPR story this morning. More on that today…