“When the sun shall dawn upon us”
Crowning the horizon, chasing dark shapes from the valley, it comes. Slow. Defiant over the night.
We who sat hushed and holding hands, holding breath, holding embers, exhale.
Strips of light brush skin, spilling through dusty window panes. Refracted on the wall through the forested limbs, it dapples and drapes the world in newness.
We breathe again.
Shadows recede.
As if to say, did you think I would forget?
To which a few say through their tears, yes.
And still others, no, but the night was long.
and yet, “Because of mercy…”
…the light is come.
Mercy drags light into the valleys of death and the dark rooms where we shut our eyes and pray for morning.
Daylight breaks over the weary.
“To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
What other way is there? We learned in the dark the terror of power, of struggle, of unseen hushed words, whispers, stolen names, and we rise from the valley to walk.
Nobody rises for another grave.
Peace. The absence of chaos, or a shield despite it. Peace is a high calling but we’ve all seen the dark. Felt it. Hate it. But peace whispers of something different.
Peace whispers something about a cradle, a cross, and a crown. Peace whispers something about another king. Another way.
Nobody rises for another grave.
Mercy brings light.
Light brings peace.
Peace brings us home.