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")?