The words of Anna

After Luke 2:22-38

The old woman, revered

and often feared for the words

which would tumble, rumble

from within, the words anticipating 

what was to come, this old woman

sees the child,

just another child,

just another ceremony,

another ritual,

and she knows Jerusalem

is redeemed, that Israel

is saved, that the ceremony

if purification is turned on its head,

as the child purifies the temple,

purified the priests, purifies the people.

And the old woman,

the prophetess,

is silenced.

Photograph by Paolo Bendandi via Unsplash. Used with permission.