The feast of the Visitation usually falls on the 31st of May. It celebrates the lovely moment in Luke’s Gospel (1:41-56) when Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was also, against all expectations, bearing a child, the child who would be John the Baptist. Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit came upon them, and that the babe in Elizabeth’s womb ‘leaped for joy’ when he heard Mary’s voice, and it is even as the older woman blesses the younger that Mary gives voice to the Magnificat, the most beautiful and revolutionary hymn in the world. There is much for the modern world to ponder in this tale of God’s blessing and prophecy on and from the margins, and I have tried to tease a little of it out in this sonnet. You can hear the poem by clicking on the title.
This sonnet is drawn from my collection Sounding the Seasons, published by Canterbury Press here in England. You can hear me read the sonnet by clicking on the title below.
Here is a meeting made of hidden joys
Of lightenings cloistered in a narrow place
From quiet hearts the sudden flame of praise
And in the womb the quickening kick of grace.
Two women on the very edge of things
Unnoticed and unknown to men of power
But in their flesh the hidden Spirit sings
And in their lives the buds of blessing flower.
And Mary stands with all we call ‘too young’,
Elizabeth with all called ‘past their prime’
They sing today for all the great unsung
Women who turned eternity to time
Favoured of heaven, outcast on the earth
Prophets who bring the best in us to birth.
Republished with gracious permission from Malcolm Guite’s website.
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The featured image is Visitation” (1503) by Mariotto Albertinelli, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Thank you for this philosophical poem, Dr. Guite. Yes, there is much for the world to ponder in this tale of God’s blessing. And Mariotto Albertinelli gave his visual interpretation, for us to interpret. In the painting, the semicircle symbolizes God the Father, with the two linear pillars possibly meaning the Son and the Holy Ghost: the Trinity. Mary and Elizabeth meet under God, whom they mimic, as two living pillars that unite. They represent, of course, the new covenant and the old covenant, respectively. Mary is dressed in blue and red: In biblical symbolism, blue is the colour of belief, or of true God, and red is the colour of charity, or of true Man. Mary’s red tunic touches the ground, as Jesus’ blood will spill on the ground, and her blue cloak covers her head, as she will be assumed whole person in heaven. Elizabeth is dressed in yellow and green: Yellow is the colour of natural death, or often, worldly wealth, and her cloak touches the ground, and green is the colour of natural life, or Paradise, but her tunic does not cover her head, which is covered in a white scarf, symbolizing religion. Underneath their coloured garments, of course, they carry inside their wombs Jesus and John. They meet and embrace under the gate of God whom the religious Elizabeth must soon enter, while Mary is already one in belief with Christ.
i must confess that I am not a poetry reader, though I occasionally try. I was deeply moved by and enjoyed your poem on the Visitation, I will have to get your anthology to read more of your poems.