Canticle for Hosea

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Jimmy O'Connell
Posts: 881
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:14 pm
Location: Ireland

Canticle for Hosea

Post by Jimmy O'Connell »

Canticle for Hosea

I
I am an open wound, Yahweh,
here, among these grey tufted-tailed
squirrels scavenging in the bush,
skipping by paths where crickets sing
and cicadas hum into night.

Within the Sheol-pit of my
stomach there is only a numb
hunger for you, my Beloved,
the searing pain of loss, the cruel
mystery of tomorrow. Here, where

cicadas hum there is, now, no
consolation. You grant only
restless torment, demanding I
be your prophet of pain; here, where
crickets sing, I, an open wound.


II
Within the silence of Yahweh’s
winter snow, I recall fall leaves
aching to become flashing flames
as they dangled on tired trees sloped
into the wind. By the banks of
this green river, abandoned leaves
are my tears for you, Lo-rammi.

Now snows lie deep on pathways where
squirrels once skipped and scavenged. But
she would not be wooed in Yahweh’s
brittle season, where silence is
a condemnation; memory
but a barren consolation.


III
Would that you would come into the
desert with me where cicadas
do not hum, where no crickets sing.
My breasts I gave you to suckle,
but you would not. When you were
my Desert People you wandered
in hope; by a green river you
secured only walls and condemned
me to these waiting expanses.

Only the sands heed me, the sun-
scorched rock knows a love-heat you knew
not. Your grief, my prophet, your tears,
have become mine. She lies beneath
the oak and poplar, my people
under pleasant shades; but I, a
lover’s winter must endure.
Oh bless the continuous stutter
of the word being made into flesh
-The Window-
Cate
Posts: 3464
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:27 am

Re: Canticle for Hosea

Post by Cate »

Hi Jimmy, I read this some time ago and came back to it this morning when I had some time to research the back story of this (and am glad I did as it introduced me to Gomer).

Your poem is beautifully written with strong images.
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Jimmy O'Connell
Posts: 881
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:14 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: Canticle for Hosea

Post by Jimmy O'Connell »

Thanks Cate.
Gomer is an interesting figure. A metaphor and has an interesting relationship with Hosea.
I like Hosea. He is doing his best to win back the lost and abandoned. A Christ figure in the OT. I see some parallels with Mary Magdalene, who could have been the wife of Jesus, at least in some traditions.
Oh bless the continuous stutter
of the word being made into flesh
-The Window-
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