Incarnation

Published by Vita Poetica, a Washington based Arts & Faith Collective, in their online Advent Calendar, in Dec 2020 . They were looking for submissions on the theme of Incarnation. I only thought to call the poem Incarnation ages after I had first written it. It's about a rare occasion Dad and I were out cycling together, on our way out to my yougner brother's grave, when I was about 14. In late October 2020,, I spotted a call for submissions on that theme for a 2020 Advent Calendar, and thought I'd send it on. Was surprised and delighted for it to be selected.

Incarnation

Me on a bike

Strange, not routine

Not something that normally happened

And with me

My Dad

On the other bike

That had been lying in the garage for ages

Peddling away

My bike swerving in and out

As I struggled to find a rhythm, a flow

And, my Dad, to my amazement, struggling too

Not much, but a little

My Dad, ever competent and in control

Had entered into something

He was awkward at

To be with me

On that late autumn afternoon

A glimpse, perhaps,

Of how it might have been

for God to become one of us?

Photo by David Mancini on Unsplash