March 23, 2006

Annunciation and Response



She knelt beside the neatly planted rows
of cummin, dill, and mint. The clear March sky
was bright; a flock of birds flew high.
She pinched a leaf;
                    then, suddenly, she froze —
a voice had spoken. There was no one there.
It spoke a second time; she looked around.
“How can this be?” she asked the vacant air.
Once more it spoke, yet there was not a sound.
She paused again; her answer in her mind.

In thirty years and three, her words would find
an echo: “Not my will, but thine be done,”
said in another garden by her son,
while three friends slept.
                           So here none heard her words —
except an angel, a high flight of birds,
and three neat rows of cummin, mint, and dill:
“Be it to me according to thy will.”

April 7, 1989
Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG


3 comments:

Göran Koch-Swahne said...

Beautiful - and so sad.

Anonymous said...

On Calvary two crosses stoode,
The Lord's of Woode,
And in the Heart of the Virgin Goode.

Sr. Heather said...

Dear Brother, Just a note to let you know that I mark the Annunciation each year (and often Maundy Thursday as well) by returning and reading this poem. It has meant a lot to me. Thank you so very much for writing it and for sharing it publicly here.

Peace and blessings,
Heather (aka hedwyg)