Begin Again: A Poem for Avent and the Beginning of the Christian New Year

Begin Again

(A poem for Advent and the beginning of the Christian Year)

Not like the world is

this marking of time

for in our too many appointments

we find ourselves lost

in a desert of

dates and cluttered

calendars

We need another way to find

out when and where

we are

So some long ago faith

ancestors created a

different way to tell time;

a beginning before

the outside world’s

beginning

So this New Year greets us

from some wilderness

where a strange voice bids

us to prepare not

for confetti but for

repentance

“Begin again,” is the invitation

from a calendar of faith

that asks us to wait

and wonder rather than

rush toward a tomorrow

that is not yet

The time that lies ahead can

be but a marking of days

or

could it be a

journey of the soul

seeking a path

rather than a paved over

toll road

whose price is

too high

Advent’s call is to again begin

with a keen awareness

that life is not marked by

numbers on a folded page

but is full of

days that are gifts

from the creator

of all time

Jody Seymour

Advent 2017