So They Kept the Matter to Themselves
Transfiguration; Mark 9:2-10
I have been on those heights
everything radiant
pregnant with presence
clouds trailing glory
while near me I heard
words of listening and love
Dreamed I worshipped you there
poised at the crux of
prophecy law or
future and past all
around I perceived
our reality stretch
Peak experience fades
when we’re descending
vision or dreaming
awkward to tell when
below in the valley
our failure awaits
But I know you are there
braced for betrayal
violence denial
face set like flint
you walk with us still
to the cross and beyond
Barbara Messner 2/08/2023
Barb, poet priest 
Ah, so true. And a lovely surprise to think of Transfiguration at this time of year since we always read it as the last Sunday in Epiphany … so it is always looking ahead. This is just a brilliant change in rethinking the meaning again.
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In our lectionaries we have the option to celebrate Transfiguration on the Last Sunday after Epiphany or 6 August, Hiroshima Day – a challenging conjunction of brilliant light and cloud!
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Very challenging and you handle it perfectly.
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This is such a great way to format this text – a real departure from “ordinary” prose and poetry. I love the way it accents the strange wonder of the experience. I think what struck me the most on first reading was the sudden specter of the threat, and the face set like flint that had been gleaming.
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I’ve been reading Mary Oliver, and love the way she formats, and by so doing highlights the words that start or end the line, and also how she creates a haunting music that is not rhythm and rhyme. I hope to experiment, although I do love rhythm and rhyme – they often challenge me to find words and ideas I wouldn’t have thought of without that impulse to explore options.
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