The Lure of Distances

This morning, a line
of geese drifted slowly
across the silky sky,

all blue and vast and
beckoning, their flight
a sign of the coming cold.

In their wide arc
they seemed to hesitate
and then turned slowly north
as if remembering something
left behind,

the lure of distances.

"A little detour,"
you insisted as we silently watched,
"nothing more."

Surely you were right.
But my eyes wandered with them
to other places left behind

In this Advent turning –

a stillness
beyond the burden of the day's work;

a song
that carries through the darkness;

the heart
that still keeps its secrets.

Mark S. Burrows
Professor of the History of Christianity