O Bearded Muse

A poem to Malcolm Guite

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O Bearded Muse and herald of the Good
And grace-filled News! O you who double joy
Amid a weeping world and thud the blood
Of Christ anew to dormant hearts devoid
Of wonder! You who nock your steady quill
To pierce that daily dimming film for me
To see, unveiled, the Kingdom ever-still
And glistening in timeless majesty:
Arise to bless and body forth these words!
All hail the King whose Kingdom seeps into
The crack of all our broken lives. He stirred
From lofty throne to bid our Death adieu.
The witness of His with-ness never fades,
And yours, my friend, has shred life's darkest shades.

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Poet, priest, author, and occasional musician Malcolm Guite is a major source of poetic inspiration for me. Much of his work is dedicated to pulling back what Samuel Taylor Coleridge calls “the film of familiarity,” the dimming veil that dims the world (and Christ Himelf). Malcolm’s work has pierced that veil and, simultaneously, my very heart. I wrote this poem simply to say, “Thank you, Malcolm.”

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