You put out candles
to mark the advent,
You set your watch
like shepherds
for the long hours of the night
You pray, you sing,
You pause. You’ve done
everything you can.

And then Christ comes,
even before the rolling earth
embraces dawn,
before the final shiver
of the last watch,
before the time you steeled yourself
to wait

Christ comes
now as ever,
singular yet constant
glorious light —
when you most need it,
what you most longed for,
invoking your grateful surprise,
joy to your heart and your eyes.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 20, 2014

photo by Heather Mulhern