No longer bent like weighted
branches or shrivelled like apples
in the bottom of a bushel basket
No longer circling & recircling
in unsolvable mental labyrinths my parents
have left all muddled perceptions behind
Now they shine like towers night-clad in spotlight
like stars visible in the morning sky like uplifted crowns
flashing reflections of the Father
& my grandparents too no longer locked
in history have leapt beyond
the limits of every age
Who sees me stumbling heavenward
laughs gasps at my time-bound ways?
Might faithful souls now glorified
bother more than a glimpse?
Or are they fixed on the source of all that light?
Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash
DSMartin:Glorified
As always a delight to read his poems. This is lovely imagery of those we love who have passed on, shining in Jesus’ light. Love the sudden introduction of his parents after the bushel basket and how the poem changed to ever more light as it went on from there.
Thanks
Love so much. Pretty sure they’re fixed on the Light though (thankfully).
Thank you! This one really hits home.
I am in tears.
The good kind.
Thank you.
Such a good meditation on life here vs heaven. I love that it ends with three questions—as it should be from our perspective. You make the possibilities enticing.
Beautiful transition from old age to Heavenly bodies. Every time I read your poem I discover a new facet in the imagery. The difference Jesus makes from ‘shrivelled’ to ‘like stars visible in the morning sky’. Glorious!
Questions that occur to us all; I guess the answer depends on what is meant by “witnesses” in the verse in Hebrews, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…” Anyway, I love how this jumps off from the Holy Sonnet and adapts it movingly to your own case. I think of my own glorified ancestors too, in contrast to me still here in this struggle.