Advent 2013 : Day 24

We didn’t just turn up and sing, you know.

We rehearsed for ages –

through Ages -

learning our parts:

the cherubim sopranos,

seraphim altos,

angel tenors,

archangel basses;

going over and over –

we younger ones needing to learn

how to process from heaven

carrying starlight

without setting fire to the wings in front of us.

I was the cherub soloist,

charged with the opening lines:

did you think that such a task would be

given to an archangel?

I am much older now;

and can no longer reach those highest notes –

does it surprise you that we angels age?

Much slower than you do, of course;

but yes, we too experience growth through time.

Again and again

we filed across the starry sky;

sometimes someone below caught half

a glimpse, or snatches of our song,

and tried forever after to join in.

But for the most their fellows thought them mad,

or they turned mad in trying to complete the song.

And when the night came,

how we sang! A song

the like of which earth had not heard

since that great day when

it was sung into creation –

oh yes, God sang –

nor has heard since,

though every word still resonates

through time and space.

Some hear it still, and still join in

caught up in joy that defies understanding.

For songs are not for playing back,

as if you were a lifeless tool:

songs are for breathing life into

and sending on.

Songs are for living.