Advent

Advent

Mary Grace Mangano

The bent world wanes in darkness and the end
Is near, we hear. Each week, again we’re told,
“Prepare,” while trees lose leaves and suns descend
In flame. The nights are longer and grow cold.
Our year ends sooner than the rest – we start
Before the others end to strip and shed
And let go. Nature teaches us this part:
That dying lets things grow, lets what’s ahead
Have room to move. And that is the adventure –
The arrival and approach of Someone who
Brings light, brings life, and gently will break through
The dark and dead, whose coming will wrench earth
To her knees. Trees stand naked, black as tar.
We’re naked, too, and watching for the star.

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Mary Grace Mangano
Writer & Educator

Mary Grace has been published in Dappled Things, Presence, and Fare Forward

Photography by Kristaps Ungurs