Ante lucem (before daybreak)
“Open to me the gates of holiness: I will enter and give thanks…
I will thank you for you have answered and you are my savior.” - Psalm 118
The first rays of the dawn are stone cold gray
And they still allow the depths and heights to hide,
But they portend a warm renewal and the day –
The Bridegroom ever coming to His Bride.
Something’s on the point of breaking forth:
Cold embers can be coaxed into a flame,
The thread of my remembering and support
Woven to altar cloth to offer my shame.
The wilderness has ravaged all I held,
Darkness whispered I was far astray,
Poverty persuaded me I cannot save myself;
Yet I trust the love I knew will not betray.
This barest light disperses every fear;
His Heart is the door burst open by the spear.
