Poems for These Last Steps of Lent
A ONE Church Lenten Devotional
In the ONE Church Devotional community we often welcome the poets into our Friday time together. As we turn the corner into Lent’s last third, it seems right to remind ourselves of all the different ways we observe the season. Each of our three poets today challenges the dour traditions of Lent in one way or another. Each undoubtedly grew up in households that observed the season’s proper solemnity and sacrifice; but as their good minds and hearts have absorbed the walk toward Jerusalem, they’ve pondered other gaits than the burdened trudging they know too well.
In his poem, “Lent”, Robert Harrick channels the spirit of the prophet Isaiah in his 58th chapter (today’s passage cited above), where God’s voice corrects Israel’s oh-so-religious fasting in favor of actually attending to the poor and the needy.
As A.E. Housman describes a flower-filled Lent, his counsel echoes a famous line from Robert Harrick’s “To the Virgins…”. That poem calls the young to, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” Here, Housman cringes at the thought of wasting a verdant season’s beauty. “Bring baskets now”, he commands — before it’s too late.
Madeleine L’Engle’s “For Lent, 1966” brings the theme of Harrick and Housman to its reckoning point. The poet contemplates the sort of departure they have described, even an exact opposite to the usual asceticism of Lent; but, as the poem closes, her faithful reflection on the way of Jesus prompts her to reverse her fanciful plans.
Enjoy!
Isaiah 58.6-9
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
Lent
Robert Harrick
IS this a fast, to keep
The larder lean ?
And clean
From fat of veals and sheep ?
Is it to quit the dish
Of flesh, yet still
To fill
The platter high with fish ?
Is it to fast an hour,
Or ragg’d to go,
Or show
A downcast look and sour ?
No ; ‘tis a fast to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat,
And meat,
Unto the hungry soul.
It is to fast from strife,
From old debate
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.
To show a heart grief-rent ;
To starve thy sin,
Not bin ;
And that’s to keep thy Lent.
The Lent Lilly
A.E. Housman
‘Tis spring; come out to ramble
The hilly brakes around,
For under thorn and bramble
About the hollow ground
The primroses are found.
And there’s the windflower chilly
With all the winds at play,
And there’s the Lenten lily
That has not long to stay
And dies on Easter day.
And since till girls go maying
You find the primrose still,
And find the windflower playing
With every wind at will,
But not the daffodil,
Bring baskets now, and sally
Upon the spring’s array,
And bear from hill and valley
The daffodil away
That dies on Easter day.
For Lent, 1966
Madeleine L’Engle
It is my Lent to break my Lent,
To eat when I would fast,
To know when slender strength is spent,
Take shelter from the blast
When I would run with wind and rain,
To sleep when I would watch.
It is my Lent to smile at pain
But not ignore its touch.
It is my Lent to listen well
When I would be alone,
To talk when I would rather dwellIn silence, turn from none
Who call on me, to try to see
That what is truly meant
Is not my choice. If Christ’s I’d be
It’s thus I’ll keep my Lent.
Prayer — God of this holy season, your people walk up to Jerusalem’s Holy Week in all sorts of ways. Bless every faithful gait, whether sacrifice or service, through mourning and rejoicing, in Jesus. Amen.