Daily Signet

WAITING FOR THE CHILD 
(A reading for two voices.)

I can’t wait to go to sleep 
            In my heart – a child
so I can wake up again.
            snuggled deep in a long winter’s night.
I can’t sleep.
            It stirs.
Off with the covers.
            It kicks.
Up on my toes.
            I know its time is near. 
My breath swirls against the frosted patterns of the window. I try to catch a glimpse.
            In my heart – a child struggling against 
a crystallized world. I see 
            the convenience of being modern; 
swaddled in the coldness 
            of the ease of taking more 
of a Christmas Eve snow. He will come
            It is so long in coming. In my heart 
I think, He will never come. 
            A child
Giving up
            A child who knows no fear
I fall back into the covers 
            Who is of the bread and of the wine, Willing to die
And close my eyes, I’m not opening them again.
            To be born again…
What’s that?
            It is the giver of gifts.
It can’t be.
            Yet, it is the gift.
But it must be. Off with the covers! Up on my toes!
            – a legacy of empowered life.
Sure to steal a glance
            I look to you, oh child
Keeping the hope alive.
            as I wait.                                             

Benjamin Martin

On This Day…

Taoist Festival Honoring Wang-Mu, Empress Mother of Compassion, Wisdom, and manifestation of the TAO; the peak of the yin half of the year; the Shen of Earth, North, and Winter

Tohji-Tsisai: Shinto rite honoring Amaterasu, sun goddess