poetry friday :: annunciation in advent

when i lived and studied in London, i tried to find an Annunciation scene at every museum i visited.  so i was very pleased when we came from Vanessa Bell’s house Charleston to the village church at Berwick, where Bell and Duncan Grant painted the frescoes.  there was an Annunciation among them!  this church is an amazing place.  the windows (just visible in this picture) were destroyed in the war and replaced with clear glass.  it is a revelation to look out on the soft greens and grays of the South Downs from the pews.  at the Church Near You website where i got this picture, you can see other pictures from Berwick Church.

all this to say, the poem for today is “Annunciation” by Denise Levertov.  even though it’s almost the end of Advent, it’s a very good poem for these dark days and long nights as we continue to make “space for the uncontained God.”

                           Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.