Yesterday two beautiful creations came together in my mind.
The sketch for 'The Head of the Virgin, by Rogier Van Der Weyden is, I think, the most beautiful depiction I know of Mary at the moment of the annunciation.
I hadn't realised the poem 'Annunciation', by Denise Levertov complements the awe and serenity of the face, by imagining the inner life and mind of Mary at the point of receiving the words "Hail Mary, full of grace."
Take time to look, to read, and to sense the miracle. I may write a piece later on sketch and poem. Not today. Look, read and wonder – these too are prayer.
She had been a child who played, ate, slept
like any other child — but unlike others
wept only for pity, laughed
in joy not triumph.
Compassion and intelligence
fused in her, indivisible.
Called to a destiny more momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,
only asked
a simple 'How can this be?'
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel's reply,
perceiving instantly
the astounding ministry she was offered:
to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being
the sum of power —
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man child
needing like any other,
milk and love —
but who was God.
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