This poem was inspired by a moment of brightness that lit up my garden in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. In the background is the picture of a little child, full of wonder in discovering the world. There is also the idea that the glimpses of beauty revealed in Creation, and in acts of kindness, are a foretaste of being in God’s presence in Heaven itself, as described for us in the closing chapters of the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Metaphorically speaking, our present life is a prelude to an even more beautiful piece of music, one that will be perfect and eternal. Eternity can feel far away from us, but, in another sense, it is very near, just as God is. This piece is dedicated to the Northern Irish singer and hymn writer Kristyn Getty, and to all my friends who seek to point others, including their children, to the beauty in God’s creation, and to God himself.

 

Prelude

 

This new day, in early spring,

there is sunlight in the garden through the leaves.

The sky is clear.

 

Moments like these bring bright music to the soul:

canticles of birdsong

in the still air.

 

Like kindness, they are doors left ajar.

Through them appear glimpses of other places

beckoning to explore:

 

spaces that are tall and wide

and full of wonder in the eyes of a child.

With streams and trees and light and singing

 

but without tears.

A better world we long for always,

in a time beyond our own, but yet so near.

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Citation Information

Sharon Jones, “Prelude,” An Unexpected Journal: Saints and Sanctuaries 5, no. 1. (Spring 2022), 1-2.


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