Patrick ComerfordMy choice of a Poem for Lent this morning is ‘Lent,’ a short poem written about 1886 by the English poet Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894).
We are more likely to associate Christina Rossetti with Christmas rather than Lent because her poem ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ has become one of the best-loved and most popular Christmas carols.
Lent, by Christina Rossetti
It is good to be last not first,
Pending the present distress;
It is good to hunger and thirst,
So it be for righteousness.
It is good to spend and be spent,
It is good to watch and to pray:
Life and Death make a goodly Lent
So it leads us to Easter Day.
Canon Patrick Comerford is Lecturer in Anglicanism and Liturgy, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and a canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin
Not trying to be too clever and never too obscure the simple verse of Christina Rossetti touches the heart and is very much my choice.
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