Offsite Post: ‘The Blessing of a King’, and One Other Poem

 

Who is like unto a king,

The living symbol

Of national unity

And sovereignty?

Dark powers have deceived;

Now many monarchs are deceased,

Murdered by disloyal thanes,

Replaced by the dead letter

Of the law, death begetting death.

For the law gives birth to death,

But the Spirit pours forth Life.

And a king anointed

With the holy myrrh

Is a vessel

Of the Holy Ghost,

Given gifts of governing,

Mystically united

With his people through the Grace

Of the sacred oil,

And they with him –

Not two contending

Forces, held in jealous

Tension, but a single

Family, extending

Through the centuries,

Brothers and bairns held

Together by blood, belief,

Suffering, and loyalty.

 

The golden crown

Upon that head

Sheds the radiant

Light of Christ upon the land,

The earthly king

An iconic image

Of Heaven’s King.

 

The Cross is in his hand,

 . . .

The rest is at https://www.newenglishreview.org/articles/the-blessing-of-a-king/.

***

The Ludwell Orthodox Fellowship was also kind enough to republish a poem already published here at Confiteri, ‘The Shrine of St. Cuthbert’:

https://southernorthodox.org/the-shrine-of-st-cuthbert/

--

Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!