As mentioned in the video, one of my goals for this year (as well as continuing to work on my children’s novel, “Aedaliegh of Arceldör“) is to write seven poems based off of the book by Michael Ward, Planet Narnia,as well as the Chronicles themselves.
The first piece, entitled “Jupiter” , is based off the first book Lewis wrote “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”
Enjoy! And hopefully, there will be more to come soon.
Jupiter
The world has been drained of it’s color like hope from our souls.
We stay huddled in our houses, scared of what the woods might hold.
We’re are covered in white and frozen in fear,
too scared to raise our voices- too scared the trees might hear.
Still, we grasp at ancient words and hold fast to the hope
of a king that is coming, breaking through the snow
They say when he comes, all will be made right.
They say when he comes, we’ll dance unhindered in the light.
And at the sound of his name, our hearts begin to beat
like an army of warriors being woken from winter’s sleep.
Do you hear the red robin’s song echoes loudly through the trees?
Behold the brook begin to bubble like joy overflowing from the deep.
Shoots are springing from the ground as snow fades away.
Look there, the sun rising red as day begins to break.
Frozen rivers part and blossoms release their blooms
as if all of creation felt our longing to be renewed.
So we shed our winter coats like a profession of faith,
trading our fears for swords there along the bank.
Our faces glow red with the warmth of the sun
as we bow before the king- the one who’s finally come.
King Jupiter you are- The king above all kings.
You roar with laughter and reign in magnanimity.
You are lion-hearted, and yet saturated in peace.
You are joviality and song- the very picture of Spring.
But winter has followed us and she is staking her claim.
She points out all our failures, our follies, our mistakes.
She tells us we’re not worthy to dance in summer’s sun,
but her voice is overshadowed by the king declaring “come!”
Thunder claps over us as cold collides with warmth.
We shiver at the shadows, yet still we raise our swords.
And just when darkness seems to swallow us whole,
we look up to find the dawn rolling in, igniting hope.
Like the morning sun spreading slowly across a field,
our king descends, proving he both conqueror and shield.
And we can but simply watch as his beauty mingles with his wrath.
Conquering what we could not, he is the king we always lacked.
He calls us before him and crowns us with new names.
We are Gentle. We are Just. Magnificent and Brave.
We take our place beside him and to this great joy we cling:
We are no more than servants; we are no less than kings.
rebekah.eckard 