Epistle

When the sky darkens with alabaster and mahogany——

Storm     and     woodsmoke,    and    the    swirling    gyres    of
unpredictability reign;

When the granite laws are brutally enacted;

When the judges  receive  the  verdict  from on high,  and,   as 
of old, close their ears to the truth;

When   the   soup   is meagre,  the  fruit of the vine  bitter   and
premature;

And  the  burden  of the cardinal  virtues  weighs heavily  upon
your shoulders—

When  the  balm   of   distance   recedes  before  your  steps   at
nightfall;

When  injurious  deeds  do  not  trouble the holders  of the iron
keys;

When the sunset blinds  the  eyes  with  blood  and  vengeance;

And   the   will    of   the    tyrant    is unrelenting—your     trials
descending upon your shoulders with the force of a storm that
rides upon the barbed, jagged hills:

In  those  hours,  my  brothers,  my sisters,   I  know  you  have
grown weary—

I know that even ancient words do not provide  solace for your
rocky path,

But  take  heart  in  the pale  light  that  flashes  over  the  dark
mountains,

Steady your hearing to an inner music: wait with impatience——
wait with mercy.

Copyright © 2024 by Ellen Hinsey. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 25, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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“In 1919, W. B. Yeats wrote ‘The Second Coming’ with its prophecy of ‘the blood-dimmed tide’—a text that anticipated the disasters of the twentieth century. We have arrived at a moment when many sense that we are again on the threshold of something ominous, already, in fact, tragically unfolding in parts of the world. In the face of this, is despair our only option? How can we overcome traps that trigger further divisions? Can poetry help us to reach across those divides and affirm the power of Love, which nevertheless still possesses the force to change the world?”
—Ellen Hinsey