Lent, by Jean M Watt

Lent, Day 3

Lent is a tree without blossom, without leaf,
Barer than blackthorn in its winter sleep,
All unadorned. Unlike Christmas which decrees
The setting-up, the dressing-up of trees,
Lent is a taking down, a stripping bare,
A starkness after all has been withdrawn
Of surplus and superfluous,
Leaving no hiding-place, only an emptiness
Between black branches, a most precious space
Before the leaf, before the time of flowers;
Lest we should see only the leaf, the flower,
Lest we should miss the stars.

Not stars, but the early morning sun - the garden was so filled with birdsong, it was hard to drag myself indoors again. Love the way that the poem shows that the stripping bare is so that we can see the vastness of the universe.

My Mum came out of hospital late yesterday, and my sister has gone back to Texas, so it's back to normal life... Today my husband was Jesus - in a play for Women's World Day of Prayer at a local church.

Am definitely missing perusing all your journals - but hoping it will give me more time for seeing the stars.