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Old Simeon, pious and just, was drawn ![]() ![]() While Anna, who proffered her widow's mite, ![]() ![]() When Mary brought Jesus (ten tithes of love!) ![]() ![]() Good Simeon, Spirit-inspired, was led ![]() ![]() “You, Master, may now let your servant go, ![]() ![]() And which you prepared in the peoples' view, ![]() ![]() Then Anna gave praises to God with them ![]() ![]() Lord, let us with Simeon watch in place ![]() ![]() |
by Stephen Wentworth Arndt, Ph.D.
[ Annunciation | Incarnation | Shepherds | Epiphany | Flight | Presentation ]
Presentation Notes:
Cf. Lk 2, 22–38.
The intended meter is as follows:
3. Cf. Ps 130, 6: My soul looks for the Lord more than sentinels for daybreak.
5. Cf. the parable of the widow's mite in Mt 12, 41–44 and Lk 21, 1–4.
8. Presentation: Jesus is presented to God in accord with Ex 13, 1–16. Cf. especially. v. 2: Consecrate to me every first-born that opens the womb among the Israelites, both of man and beast, for it belongs to me. Note that Jesus does not need to be redeemed as required by Nm 18, 15, since he already belongs fully to the Heavenly Father.
9. The turtledove: a pair of turtledoves, one for a holocaust and one for a sin offering, was the offering of the poor. Cf. Lv 12, 6–8, especially v. 8: If, however, she cannot afford a lamb, she may take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a holocaust and the other for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for her, and thus she will again be clean. Mary's purification after childbirth was, of course, merely ritual, not moral.
13–18: These lines are a versification of the Nunc dimittis, the canticle of Simeon, which the Church prays in its liturgy at Compline.
[ Carry Each Other's Burdens | Rejoice in Hope | Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice | Owe No Debt To Anyone | Accept Each Other | If One Member Suffers | Earthen Vessels | Forgive As The Lord Has Forgiven You | Be An Example To Believers | Keep Yourself Pure ]
[ Supper | Gethsemane | Betrayal | Denial | Ironies | Wounds | Surrender | Tomb | Doubt | Ascension | Christ ]
This poem is © Copyright 2002 by Stephen Wentworth Arndt, Ph.D.
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