Nine parts dust and one part light,
Just motes that shimmer on the air,
Like stars, for one brief moment bright,
We vanish even as we flare.
There’s sweetness in this somber season,
A richness clothed in scarcity,
That wakes the soul’s abiding reason,
And stirs a longing deep in me.
That ashy kiss of benediction
Answers all that’s in my heart,
So tender in its stern prediction:
Life will triumph; dust, depart.
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– Judi Gullatt
Judi Gullatt is a parishioner at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roswell, GA, where I work. I am very grateful to her for sharing this most meaningful poem for Lent and invite you to reflect upon it during this holy season.
-Katherine Elberfeld
Artwork was composed from two images of the corona of our Sun during a solar eclipse. The first was taken in 1900 by the Smithsonian Institution. The second appeared in Popular Science Monthly Volume 57. Both are in the public domain.
Katherine ElberfeldFebruary 19, 2016Blog
6 thoughts on “The Light in Lent”
LoriFebruary 19, 2016 at 11:55 pmPermalinkAbsolutely beautiful and soulful. Thank you Judi for your gift of imagination and prose and Katie, for sharing
Katherine EFebruary 20, 2016 at 2:04 amPermalinkBeautiful and soulful, yes. I agree.
Tre JensenFebruary 23, 2016 at 6:24 pmPermalinkAt this season of Lent our thoughts return to ” from dust to dust” but the resurrection message reveals that the essence of the dust is the soul and when the dust departs, the soul rises above to its original life force, the source of all life, our everlasting God and our deep longing to become whole again, to come home again, ceases. Yes, life triumphs, the dust departs.
Thank you Judi for sharing your soulful thoughts. Very beautiful.KarenMarch 1, 2016 at 9:52 pmPermalinkJudy, that is so lovely. so lovely
