312 - Oblation

Oblation
By Ann W. Astell

"Opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh"
--Matt. 2 :12.

Upon the yellow straw, the brighter gold
of gift, the coffer crystalline and fine
and set with shining stones, with amethyst
and emerald, each fitted to design,
its artistry intended as a sign
that He whose star was midnight's brightest gem
was born a King in David's Bethlehem.

And there. arising from the stable floor,
the scent of incense acrid in the air,
a cloud to cloak Divinity, to clothe
the nakedness of God, so poor and bare,
a wind of worship woven into prayer
as Mary breathed, inhaled the sharp perfume,
and saw the shadow darkening the room.

And last of all, the gift of death, this myrrh
mysterious and pressed into her palm,
a dressing for the dead, a secret spice,
the last anointing for the Christ, a balm
for her Son's body, crowned and cold and calm.
And she, with sober eyes accepted all
of wisdom's gifts, in silence, in the stall.

Ann W. Astell is a member of the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University, she is working toward a doctorate in medieval literature at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is the author of The Saints in Soliloquy: A Collection of Dramatic Monologues ( 1984). Previous poems by Sister Ann Astell appeared in the January 1983 issue. This present poem. "Oblation," helps us to anticipate the Advent and Christmas season.