“. . . isn’t there still
something singing?”¹

Pastor to the brokenhearted makes his rounds
through the hospice house of shelter
singing his quiet song of peace, inexplicable
joy amidst seeming lifetimes of sorrow:

And “God said, ‘Let there be light,’
and there was light”² over the deep,
the formless void announced daily
on social media. All Nature counters

with the mockingbird calling
each morning from the top
of our backyard pecan tree,
winter’s bare limbs,

the morning’s light hours away,
singing joy of creation, hope
against despair, Lucy Dog
herding me out to sip my coffee

in the cold, reward her warning
bark against whatever Evil
slinks its shadow through the alley,
kept in place by the anthem

of bird and shepherd dog, their song
enough this day, what hope
I stand here in December weather
grateful to receive.

Notes:

¹Ada Limón, “The Leash,” The Carrying: Poems, Milkweed Editions, 2018, pp. 6-7.

²Genesis 1: 1-5.

With thankfulness for pastor Ken Lyle, Jr., his Advent Devotional, December 2, 2024, First Baptist Church, Abilene, Texas, Daily Devotional Thoughts: “Wonderful Counselor.”