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Advent Calendar, Rowan Williams

He will come like last leaf's fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud's folding.

He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.

He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.

He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.

Rowan Williams is, I hardly need point out, Archbishop of Canterbury.



Bonus link for German speakers: the TU Chemnitz Advent Calendar is running again. It's always lovely, with a mixture of photos of the Erzgebirge, information about the Christmas customs of the region, recipes (I got a fantastic recipe for red wine, chocolate and nut cake, which has become one of my favourites there once), craft activities you can do with children and competitions. Best web-based calender I know.