The Woman and the Dragon: A Christmas Revelation

I can sometimes be intense, and overdo it a little in my writing, I'm sometimes told.  I'd agree.

Last year, our pastor had read from Revelation, chapter 12 as it pertains to the story of Christmas, the birth of our Savior, and I had thought that might make for an interesting Christmas poem.  And so I wrote a poem called “The Woman and the Dragon: A Christmas Revelation”, which is the subtitle for Revelation, chapter 12 (linked here), and the poem is essentially an introduction, then the entire chapter twelve of Revelation rewritten as a poem, and then a conclusion.  I was very please with it, and Mom and my sister Kim liked it too, but even Kim expressed concerns that it was way too deep for most people to understand.  My sister-in-law Darece said she could imagine someone opening it, seeing how long it was, and putting it aside, saying “I’ll just get to that later,” and then never getting back to it (or not wanting to once they struggled with how deep it was).

     At any rate, here’s the poem:

 The Woman and the Dragon: A Christmas Revelation

by Gary Van Buren

A Babe born in a manger, angels sing His praise on high

Yet there is so much more to this Christmas tale than merely meets the eye

And so into this factual, biblical story we will delve

Take a peek behind the curtain in Revelation, Chapter Twelve:

A great and wondrous sign in heaven above did appear

A symbolic vivid vision, impressive and sincere

A woman clothed with the sun, and under her feet, the moon

And on her pretty head, a crown of twelve stars was strewn

Pregnant, and about to birth, the woman cried out in pain

When another sign in heaven was about to bleed red rain

An enormous crimson dragon, with seven nasty heads

On each, a crown and ten big horns; the thing a sane man dreads

A third of the stars were swept from the sky with a brush of its mighty tail

And hurled them far-flung down below, unto the earth impale

It stood in front of the woman, her child it might devour

To doom mankind to torturous hell upon that very hour

The woman bore a Son to rule all nations with an iron scepter

Snatched up to heaven to sit on a thrown, by God, our great protector

The woman escaped to a desert place, and there she perseveres

To be cared for by God who prepared it, residing for three and a half years

A great war in heaven had ensued, with the dragon on the attack

Michael and his angels fought him, and he and his demons fought back

But the dragon, that serpent called Satan, who leads the whole world astray

Was, with the angels who followed him, hurled to the earth that day

And then a voice from heaven spoke, giving this proclamation:

“Now has come the Kingdom of God.  Now has come salvation

And the authority of his Christ; for the accuser with heads of seven

Accusing our brothers to God day and night has been hurled down from heaven

“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony

They risked their very existence against those full of sanctimony

Therefore, rejoice you heavens and you who dwell in them so true!

But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!

“He is filled with fiery fury because he knows that his time is short”

When the dragon saw he had been hurled down, to vengeance did he resort

He pursued the woman who had given birth, just like a blood-sucking leech

But the woman was given the wings of an eagle, to fly from the serpent’s reach

She flew to a place prepared in the desert, in this revelation sublime

Where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time

Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water just like a river

To sweep her away with the torrent, away from the Holy Life-Giver

But the earth helped her by opening its mouth and swallowing all of the waters

The dragon was enraged and went off to make war on her sons and daughters

Against those who obey God’s commandments and the testimony of Jesus Christ

And yet, take heart, all you who believe, for God wins the final tryst

           

We see Christmas from our perspective, and the things we can know for certain

But there’s more there when, like Dorothy in Oz, we peek behind the curtain

In this bible book, where the dragon is Satan and the woman represents us

We can see God’s plan at work in the heavens, and our salvation through Jesus!

For God had a plan for us, created out of his love

He sent his Son down to cover our sins, and our release thereof

It’s cause to celebrate the birth of our Savior with jubilation

Seeing just a mere glimpse beyond in this astounding revelation!

                                   

Now, I really like this poem, but Kim, and Mom, and Darece are right when they say it’s much too deep for everyone.  My thought was that if they take their Bible down from the shelf and read Revelation, chapter 12, they’re going to be presented with the exact same thoughts and images from this poem, for this poem is, essentially, that entire chapter in poetic form, with just a short single stanza introduction, and a two stanza conclusion to make sense of it all.

     Therefore, I found the time to rewrite it as a shorter poem that takes more time to explain these images and how they fit in with the idea of Christmas, and not to just rewrite a chapter from Revelation, and everyone enjoyed that poem much more, and that poem is called “Beyond the Nativity,” which I’ll share it next week.  I’m still not sorry I wrote “The Woman and the Dragon: A Christmas Revelation".  I don't know.  What do you all think (if there is a "you all")?