Maranatha

Maranatha

Ryan Apple

to Christ our Lord

We are watchmen awaiting the world’s dawn:
peasants planting vineyards, virgins in white,
arks without deluge, and ark’s birds in flight
with nowhere to nest, circling Babylon.
We are God’s jesters, fools, having foregone
the guild’s gilded claims. Rome’s babblers can fight
for applause on her vaudeville’s final night.

Let overtures end, and curtains be drawn
back, unveiling your troupe to the nations.
Cue harvest and harbor, daybreak and rest,
cue lily and dogwood’s jubilations,
and cue every saint who stood Caesar’s best.
Come Bridegroom, come. Here we stand, well-rehearsed,
ready for when leading roles are reversed.

---

Ryan Apple
Poet & Music Professor

Ryan is a Music Professor at Great Lakes Christian College in Lansing, Michigan. His poetry has appeared in the anthology Adam, Eve, & the Riders of the Apocalypse, and in his chapbook Stars And Sparrows Alike (Finishing Line Press).

Photography by Marina Reich