Poem: The Holy Guest

Sarah de Nordwall

A poem to celebrate the Art Exhibition at the Servite Church - Holy Spirit Shaping Presence on 16th September 2019

The Holy Guest

And the Holy Spirit is released from the ark

As from the hand of the Father

Forth she goes

To seek a place of rest

Where the waters of unconsciousness have withdrawn

And the need for healing souls

Has been laid bare..

A stump she finds

Of dying hopes -

Alights..

And lo, no more surrounded by bedraggled leaves

But beyond all expectation

Hearts of every hue

A bright batallion

Here at war with sadness,

Flags of jubilation on the once

Barbed wire

Burst forth in joy!

Who is this Man of Fire

Whom the spirit paints in neon orange

Like the Life of God

Surpassing all convention

Singing in the dumbstruck zeitgeist

Of Pure Love?

The man who drew the world

In the colour of blood

In all its suffering, ageing,

Barely standing, deathly pain.

Till suddenly,

Sun through stormclouds

Breaking,

A Presence now descends.

She bathes in feathered lightness

And our sorrows lift.

And we are not alone

And we are not alone indeed

And seldom what we seem

For we are bound for worlds unseen

And we were made for fire.

And yet we cannot always bear

The apocalypse of Power.

And so You gently come to rest

So oft-forgotten, Holy Guest

And make a home that's

Seven times blessed,

Among the cushions and the Readers Digest.

Revealer of Plagues and Seals and Doom

Preserve us in our sitting room

And send us out with hearts ablaze Preparing the world for the End of Days.

Sarah de Nordwall performed this poem at the Servite Church of Our Lady of Dolours Art Exhibition with St Patricks Studios on 16th September 2019

LINK - www.sarahdenordwall.com