A Beautiful Lenten Poem & Meditation

THE SILENT NIGHT

The deer were at their graze

And the robin with the speckled bill came toward

To see and let me stay

The deer were in their ash coats

Speckled dun, and curiously

Without alarm they stood and watched me

Not yet spring grown

Wind fallen too from equinoctial storms

The forest had no shade

It is our Lent, and nothing

Can molest us these few weeks

What is it you seek?

Tell me, tell me little ones

Docile, unafraid

How is the Resurrection made?

How from this destruction

Can the living one arise?

The deer watched me with soft eyes

There were four does, a fawn

They listened, stood their ground

And did not make a sound

But the small birds in the scatter

Stirred and tossed the leaves

Looking for the end of last year's seeds

On the night that He was born

The deer had speech

And we could teach

And on the night

He will arise

We will be silent then

Observe with our soft eyes

But the birds will take to flight

To all the quarters of the world

And tell the silent night

~ Pavel Chichikov

http://www.kaufmannpublishing.com/Mysteries.htm
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