Immensity Cloistered in Thy Dear Womb
Three paintings and three poems for the Annunciation
Annunciation
Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo, faithful virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He will wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created, thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son and Brother;
Whom thou conceivst, conceived; yea thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother;
Thou hast light in dark, and shutst in little room,
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb.
-John Donne
Annunciation We see so little, stayed on surfaces, We calculate the outsides of all things, Preoccupied with our own purposes We miss the shimmer of the angels’ wings, They coruscate around us in their joy A swirl of wheels and eyes and wings unfurled, They guard the good we purpose to destroy, A hidden blaze of glory in God’s world. But on this day a young girl stopped to see With open eyes and heart. She heard the voice; The promise of His glory yet to be, As time stood still for her to make a choice; Gabriel knelt and not a feather stirred, The Word himself was waiting on her word. -Malcolm Guite
After Annunciation
This is the irrational season
when love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
there’d have been no room for the child.
-Madeleine L'Engle