Abbey Swanson
About this Christian Poet:
Abbey Swanson resides in Casper, Wyoming with her husband of three years and their two year old son. She dedicated her life to the Lord when she was seven years old. Both reading and writing were an important part of her childhood and that love has grown into a desire to serve the Lord by writing. She earned a degree in Liberal Arts at Crown College in St. Bonifacious, MN where her work first appeared in print in the college's literary magazine, The Rivulet.
Jonathan (1 Samuel 20)*
Trumpet blasts welcome the New Moon Festival
Sacrifice atones for bloated sin
Full Moon wanes to nothing
Night-sky void of its shining orb
Soul void of guilt
Anger and anxiety swirl in Jonathan’s empty
Stomach amidst feasting royalty
Cascades of kingly-color awkwardly
Pool at his feet
A warrior-prince does not chase Philistines
While draped in cloth
An arrow-boy awaits his prince in a field
Gray and dull before first light
Unaware this morn he will not aim for sport
Who hides behind the stone Ezel?
Hand reaches for an arrow
Eyes narrow, muscles tense
Sinews stretch between wood and flesh
One, two, three tokens
Soar to tell his beloved friend
Beloved king of death
Jonathan’s father
The king’s murderous heart:
As long as the son of Jesse lives
You will never be king.
Truth tells the boy to keep running
Lie says the arrow is near
Side with King-Eternal
Or king of his own flesh
Eyes drawn eastward
Sunrise.
Does he see the Magi?
Men clad in brilliant yellow slowly rise
Over sandy dunes
They who hear heaven’s glistening stones
Heed Heaven-Creator’s voice
For a moment His shining guide commands
Camel caravans relentlessly ride
Westward bearing gifts
Baby-King hides inside
Beloved king hides beside
Ezel merely an arrow’s flight away
The warrior-prince sees the Magi
The cosmic battle relents
Anger and anxiety
Washed away by first light
King Eternal’s victory:
“Isn’t the arrow beyond you, boy?
Keep running…”
Copyright ©2010 by Abbey Swanson
*after the paintings, "Jonathan's Token to David" by Lord Frederic Leighton and "Journey of the Magi" by James Tissot