O Radiant Sun of Piercing Beam

The beauty of last night's Easter Vigil at St. Mary's was amazing, and I felt even before that moving event I had a poem that I had begun weeks ago that I needed to share here. Its opening lines came as I was driving back from Houston from my early vote weekend all the way back in late February, February 24th, and very much of which has been stated here was on my mind.

It was on the drive back that Sunday evening that the opening words came in quiet reflection. I was stuck on the first three stanzas, in various forms and line breaks for these weeks afterward. I even used had a different first line variation, but I knew what the message I wanted to send in putting these words to paper (and here amid the virtual space of this blog). I saw in the dying sun of that day, the beauty contained within—those fingerprints of God over all His creation.

I shared this poem with a friend on Thursday afternoon in a seemingly random encounter, but I know that nothing is of chance. Everything does happen for a reason. Nevertheless, I was at an impasse towards the end of the poem in the fifth stanza. I knew what I wanted to say but could not reach for it. It was when the next two stanzas came to me after she had given me a greater peace to move forward. Most especially among these the lines were the following:

To a love of compassion
Centered on your passion,
To a love that is assuring
And with your glory enduring.

The days have not gotten any easier, as challenges do not take a day off—even for Easter—but I wanted to at least leave with you this day these words that I find so moving. Because of the glory found in Him I find peace—a peace not of this world but a peace that is throughout this world evermore because of His dying and rising once more.

O Radiant Sun of Piercing Beam

O radiant sun of piercing beam,
How far away do thou really seem!

Your colors of orange
And colors of red
Do fill the sky
And so with thee wed

A beauty so mighty,
A beauty so bold,
That no greater beauty
Can ever be told!

Thy warmth, thy brilliance
Are forever transcendent;
Thy majesty, thy greatness
Give the whole world witness

To a love of compassion
Centered on your passion,
To a love that is assuring
And with your glory enduring.

As you set this day,
Like the days before,
I see your greatness
And so must adore.

The further your light descends
The more the reds of dusk blaze
That through your dying this day
You rise the next with glory to stay!