The Last and Forever Antiphon
Simeon Gnarled hands long clutched at last cradle the Christ: the old man finds respite to the bone in this helpless infant purified who purifies all, evermore— my eyes have seen salvation! His lips fumble, his mind hums the psalm chimerical where My soul finds rest in— the child does not startle when the old man sings out his cry: As You promised, Lord God! Dismiss Your servant in peace, In peace bring me beside You and Whisper Your name to me As this child has here Spoken Himself to my ear! He sobs in jeweled relief, My eyes have seen salvation. Anna The stooped prophetess nears the infant, she widowed but never since alone. Her tired voice trembles: I too have seen our salvation awaited. Ye of Israel, hark His coming! No lifetime of worship in His temple Compared yet to His fingers Around my thumb. Know His face the Eastern Dayspring, For He is come to save the lost, The Redeemer and Chain-Breaker, the Christ! Then, when she sees Him murdered as a man: I too have seen our salvation awaited, I’m afraid, His body again helpless But more gloried in death prophesied To life! To sever Israel but graft her Still stronger, sweeter still, the old woman coughs. Choked in joy, she reveals the end and the beginning are one to the Christ’s young mother. Emmanuel The child grows burdened and favored, guided by the prophecies like songs in his ears. The two singers, the man and woman spent and rewarded, passed into death at the first taste of ageless, promised glory.
The Last and Forever Antiphon