Annunciation in the House

We know the scene; . . .
    Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings, 
the angelic ambassador; standing or hovering, 
whom she acknowledges, a guest

But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions 
courage.
The Engendering Spirit
did not enter her without consent
                     God waited.

She was free
to accept or refuse, choice 

integral to humanness . . .

This was the minute no one speaks of, 
when she could still refuse.

A breath unbreathed,      Spirit,
         suspended,                       waiting.

She did not cry, “cannot I am not worthy,” 
nor, “I have not the strength.”
She did not submit with gritted teeth, 
                             raging, coerced 
Bravest of all humans,
                             consent illumined her . . . 
Consent,         courage unparalleled,
               opened her utterly.

Aren’t there annunciations
of one sort or another in most lives?
             Some unwillingly 
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,       uncomprehending.
More often         these moments
              when roads of light and storm
open from darkness in a man or woman,
are fumed away from
in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.
Ordinary lives continue.
God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.

D. Levertov

return to 10/04 CPF Newsletter