The Eternal Summer Aspect of the Child

At the Presentation
he was forewarned
by the frown and
cast shadow
of Simeon,
the falling hands
and eyes of Anna,
and the desperate
hold and tears
of the young Mother,
that the eternal
summer aspect
of the Child
could darken and fade
in autumnal shades.
He was instructed
first by the gifts and
golden adoration
of the Magi,
chiefly through
the waft and billow
of myrrh and incense,
he learned
where the throne
of the kingdom
was to be planted.
In the Temple
of winter
he was taught
from within
amidst the air
of caution, incredulity
and embarrassed
veneration - gifts (!)
from the Doctors
of Scripture and Law-
that he was no
preternatural visitor,
but a God child
at home.
Springtime woke
to see him
flowing eloquently,
a vibrant sapling,
ever yearning
ever yielding,
to the lights of
night and day.
In the summer
he could see
Mt. Tabor
from their home
in Nazareth
and count the stars
over its peak.
There he learned
to read the
book of constellations
teaching him
in starlit epiphanies,
in but a brief moment
he would be
the radiant
dawn.

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• Icons by Fr. William McNichols

• Information on obtaining Icons by Fr. William McNichols

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This page is managed by Fr. Raymond A. Bucko, S.J. of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Creighton University. E-Mail: bucko@creighton.edu Page Last Updated: December 1, 2001

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