Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Poetry Wednesday, Vol. 69

Prophets
by Anne Porter

Once in the Advent season
When I was walking down
A narrow street

I met a flock of children
Who all came running up to me
Saying that they were prophets
And for a penny they
Would prophesy

I gave them each a penny

They started out
By rummaging in trash-cans
Until they found
A ragged piece of silk

It’s blue, they said
Blue is a holy color
Blue is the color that
The mountains are
When they are far away

They laid the rag
On a small fire
Of newspaper and shavings
And burned it in the street

They scraped up all the ashes
And with them decorated
Each other’s faces

Then they ran back to me
And stood
In a circle ‘round me

We stood that way
In a solemn silence
Until
One of the children spoke

It was the prophecy!

He said that long before
The pear tree blossoms
Or sparrows in the hedges
Begin to sing

A Child will be our King.








6 comments:

Beth said...

So beautiful the image of children being the prophets which I think is so true and also that the prophesy comes out of the ashes. Christ comes not in splendor but in lowliness and a reminder that this is our call too, to be the refuse of the world, to quote St. Paul. Peace to you on this day.

And PS. I was having issues this morning, could you delete the first 2 links. The 3rd is my actual post for today. Sorry and thank you.

Beth Hanna said...

Wow! What a sweet poem! Yes, we need to be willing to be, as Beth already said, the refuse of the world, in order to win it for Christ. I read Matthew 1-3 this morning and was hit again with the fact that in Christ´s genealogy, there are people who the world would NEVER consider worthy to be there! But God....!

Molly Sabourin said...

Beeeaaauuuttiful. What a perfect, perfect poem for Advent. Thank you for sharing this. It encouraged me!

Julia said...

Beautiful poem. Love that it is not really sentimental, and yet....

Michelle said...

great Advent poem! I really enjoyed it - and everyone's comments.

~Michelle

Catherine said...

That is a beautiful poem. Thank you, Kris. A blessed Advent to you!