Wedding

Christmas provided ample material for poetry writing, but alas, the end of two (too) busy weeks found me with only fragments of forgotten inspiration. I had an idea for a poem that personified humanity as a beggar limping into a stable on Christmas Eve, then dancing his way out of the stable the next morning. I also had an idea for a poem that compared the extended family that visits over the holidays with the "extended family of God" that fills the congregation Christmas Eve, following themes of a richer, fuller community. Perhaps I'll finish them eventually, perhaps not. In the mean time, here's one about a wedding I saw. Warning: the main level on which this poem operates is not the standard metaphorical wedding between Christ and his Church. If read in this way, confusion may occur.

Wedding 1/4/2011
Bones wrapped in sweaty skin
itch at a tie too tight
at the end of a row of men in suits.
A million wooden pews away
white feet wait in whiter shoes.

For three days and nights (it seems)
she walks and
the world stands and waits
the world waits
and waits.

A thousand helpless, smiling souls await
the light, stage-ascending;
no one breaths for joy and
Fear
can such a light remain undimmed
by the darkness all around?

Then the white unites with
steadfast patience standing there,
adding strength to holy, precious love

the One Creator
creating one
greater than the ones
that once were only
ones

and after all
fear is gone
and after
all is joy
the wedding feast awaits.