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Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Words on Wednesday: Expectans Expectavi




Expectans Expectavi
by Anne Ridler


The candid freezing season again:
Candle and cracker, needles of fir and frost;
Carols that through the night air pass, piercing
The glassy husk of heart and heaven;
Children's faces white in the pane, bright in the tree-light.

And the waiting season again,
That begs a crust and suffers joy vicariously:
In bodily starvation now, in the spirit's exile always.
O might the hilarious reign of love begin, let in
Like carols from the cold
The lost who crowd the pane, numb outcasts into welcome.



Source: Collected Poems, Anne Ridler. Manchester: Carcanet, 1997

Photo by Rachel

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