O Dayspring (O Oriens)

Posted on September 7, 2016 by randamir

This sonnet is based on the the Great O Antiphon, O Dayspring which reads, “O Dayspring splendor of light eternal and sun of righteousness: come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.”

I have used Isaiah 9:2 and Malachi 4:2 to further draw upon for the sonnet. They read,

Isaiah 9:2 The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

Malachi 4:2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

https://audioboom.com/boos/5023328-o-dayspring-o-oriens

Facing west, this sunset of humanity
Denies the falling night of death’s looming shadow.
Reality is reviled as a form of profanity
That pilfers the profits, efficiency, workflow.
O Sun of Righteousness, make right and shine
On the dark cruelties of our society’s sins
Whose roots choke our hearts, our affections entwine
And can only be freed when confession begins.
O Dayspring, shine, flood our grey town in light
Drive back the darkness in which lurks our fears.
Dawn! Arise! Illuminate our night!
Speak tenderly in mercy, wipe away all our tears.
When with healing in his wings this Sun rise upon us all,
We shall bound in joy released as a calf from winter’s stall.

O King of Nations

Posted on December 24, 2015 by randamir

The seventh in a series of sonnets based on the Great O Antiphons. This sonnet is based on the antiphon, O Rex Gentium (O King of Nations). The translation reads: “O King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.”

The antiphon is based on several passages from the Old Testament including the following.
Hag. 2:7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.
Is. 28:16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

O King of Nations, for whom we long and desire
Come to your creation, square it and right
Mend the marred, rebuild, and never tire
Till darkness is shaken, pull down the night.
As carpenter and joiner, he dovetails and makes one,
Bridges as keystone the pillared-arched ceiling,
Tears down hostility, makes righteousness run,
And cross-armed gathers in mercy and healing.
In concretion and cohesion, held fast by this King
Sustained by His pervasive presence and power
Made a people of his own sealed in promise as a ring
Wedded beneath his love’s banner and bower.
The King of our desiring has climbed into the clay
Creation’s cornerstone is laid Christmas day.

artwork: Egerton MS 3277 2nd half of 14th century; Psalter and Hours (the ‘Bohun Psalter’)

O Root of Jesse

Posted on December 1, 2015 by randamir

The third antiphon of the Great O Antiphons reads: “O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples; before you kings will shut their mouths, to you the nations will make their prayer: Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.”

The sonnet is based on Isaiah 11:1, 10-12. “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit….
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. 12 He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.”

O Root of Jesse, the tender shoot
From whom the kingdom springs
In this world reach down, take root
To free the captives bring your blessings.
O Root of Jesse, who walked Galilee
Working wonders among your own
Stopping to heal those why cry, “Mercy!”
But for you, no mercy was shown,
O Root of Jesse, born to die
Raised on a tree, thorns for a crown
Raised to life, the tomb opened to sky
The stump springs green though the tree cut down.
O Root of Jesse, who makes men free,
Take root in my heart and grow in me

O Lord (O Adonai)

Posted on November 27, 2015 by randamir

The second of the Great O Antiphons of Advent.
“O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Based on: Based on Exodus 6:6 “Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. “

O Lord, as Sinai’s burning bush blazed with fire
You answered Moses saying “I AM,” is your name,
And promised your arm would reach and never tire
Until your son you saved from slavery and shame.
Even while gathering the bread you sent each day
And resting in the presence of shrouded Sinai’s peak
The people complain, reject the word, and stray
From Him who’s love it is to rescue those who’re weak.
Whether Pharaoh or Self, my arms cannot bear
The weight of the oppressing world’s pretenders and lords
Shackled in silence caught again in sin’s snare
Paying a jailer off in lies for the rightness I can’t afford.
But the I AM in a manger laid bare His arm and crossed
Reached down to our humanity to redeem the bound and lost.

artwork: Moses and the Burning Bush ; Michiel van der BORCH ; illuminated miniature on vellum from Jacob van Maerlant’s « Rhimebible » of Utrecht ; manuscript MMW 10 B 21; Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague

O Wisdom II

Posted on November 21, 2015 by randamir

“O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other mightily, and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.”

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

O Wisdom we hear the call for what we lack
The insight to know what we should do.
Regret and failure, rush to stab us in the back
In darkness we grope, reaching out to find you.
And more than answers but of character we
Seek to be Spiritually formed and stayed
Not double-minded, tossed in confusion’s sea
But with courage to stand, in glory to be made.
O Wisdom go, they are lost in that world.
Each city block a crossroad, a decision to make
Knowing with each step their destiny unfurls
To blessing or cursing, show them which way to take.
And Wisdom heard and obeyed and rushed to find them
Crying out to the lost from a manger in Bethlehem.

from: Nativity, a large historiated initial from an Antiphonary, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Italy (Florence), c.1400]