{"id":2666,"date":"2018-05-02T09:46:04","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T13:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2666"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:45:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:45:31","slug":"may-2-denise-levertov-agnus-dei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2018\/05\/02\/may-2-denise-levertov-agnus-dei\/","title":{"rendered":"May 2 – Denise Levertov – Agnus Dei"},"content":{"rendered":"

May\u2019s 1st Wednesday \u00a0 \u201cWhat terror lies concealed
\nin strangest words, O lamb
\nof God that taketh away
\nthe Sins of the World\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again, as so often now 4 years deep in poetry posts and c. 2500 readers strong, a reader and friend, living through a hard time, concluded a stark lamentation email with this timeless question: \u00a0\u201cHow is it that the Lamb of God bears the sins of the world?\u201d \u00a0 Whenever, it seems, this hard question comes into focus, adults find it hard to acknowledge it, find it hard to recognize that the time and\u00a0circumstances can transform the words\u00a0\u201cLamb of God\u201d toward an unavoidable hard place.<\/p>\n

When a soul friend placed the question, \u00a0here at mid-week in what begins to feel like spring, s\/he brought poet Denise Levertov to mind. \u00a0Like every great poem, the poet transcends the boundaries of any single faith tradition, opens the imagination and takes the reader to a demanding place where some rebirth can happen. \u00a0 Best to read\u00a0\u201cAgnus Dei\u201d out loud, with pauses.
\nHave a blest mid-week,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john st sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s post – Denise Levertov & the words\u00a0\u201clamb of God\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Given that lambs
\nare infant sheep,
\nthat sheep are afraid and foolish, and lack
\nthe means of self-protection, having
\nneither rage nor claws,
\nvenom nor cunning,
\nwhat then
\nis this \u2018Lamb of God\u2019?<\/p>\n

This pretty creature, vigorous
\nto nuzzle at milky dugs,
\nwoolbearer, bleater,
\nleaper in air for delight of being, who finds in astonishment
\nfour legs to land on, the grass
\nall it knows of the world?
\nWith whom we would like to play,
\nwhom we\u2019d lead with ribbons, but may not bring
\ninto our houses because
\nit would spoil the floor with its droppings?<\/p>\n

What terror lies concealed
\nin strangest words, O lamb
\nof God that taketh away
\nthe Sins of the World: an innocence
\nsmelling of ignorance,
\nborn in bloody snowdrifts,
\nlicked by forebearing
\ndogs more intelligent than its entire flock put together?<\/p>\n

God then,
\nencompassing all things, is
\ndefenseless? Omnipotence
\nhas been tossed away,
\nreduced to a wisp of damp wool?<\/p>\n

And we
\nfrightened, bored, wanting
\nonly to sleep \u2018til catastrophe
\nhas raged, clashed, seethed and gone by without us,
\nwanting then
\nto awaken in quietude without remembrance of agony,<\/p>\n

we who in shamefaced private hope
\nhad looked to be plucked from fire and given
\na bliss we deserved for having imagined it,<\/p>\n

is it implied that we
\nmust protect this perversely weak
\nanimal, whose muzzle\u2019s nudgings<\/p>\n

suppose there is milk to be found in us?
\nMust hold in our icy hearts
\na shivering God?<\/p>\n

So be it.
\nCome, rag of pungent
\nquiverings,
\ndim star.
\nLet\u2019s try
\nif something human still
\ncan shield you,
\nspark
\nof remote light.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Denise Levertov
\nb. October 1923 \u00a0d. December 1997<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May\u2019s 1st Wednesday \u00a0 \u201cWhat terror lies concealed in strangest words, O lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World\u201d Once again, as so often now 4 years deep in poetry posts and c. 2500 readers strong, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2666"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2697,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666\/revisions\/2697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}