Feb
11
2022
By Anonymous (not verified)
Father Andy Davy, MIC, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Plano, Illinois, also writes poetry. Here, we share some of his work and his commentaries on that work in the latest installment of a weekly series.
Two Fires
A fire forever cold
Has eaten unto shadow.
The light as fell as mould
Corrupting life
My marrow.
And as I welcome
Angel fallen's ear,
My warmth flows down and out of me...
For I am unspun;
My veins toward the one
Who blazes flame so chillingly.
But as the last drop of my wind is taken,
My cry is answered!
Vampiric magnet shaken.
For appearing in the night
Is the uncreated Light,
Which gives the hearth-flesh
Back to man,
From which Dark Fire
Had wraith in plan.
Eucharistic delight
Slashing through the webs of might.
Clearing away the grasp of wight's hand,
Restoring flush and mirth to man.
Two flames clash
Over the skies of the human heart.
One cools, another inflames;
Two worlds forever miles apart.
This poem came to me during the celebration of Candlemas this year. It is also strongly influenced by my current study on the Lord of the Rings. I love Tolkien's imagery of evil as a dark fire that cools in a Dantean sort of way. The Ring remains cool even when Gandalf throws it into the fire in The Fellowship of the Ring, and in a sense, its power lies in drawing light, life, and warmth away like a black hole, inverting and twisting God's creation like the Dark Lord does with the Orcs, Trolls, and Ring Wraiths. Evil is parasitic and cools us until we are spiritually lifeless.
The Uncreated Light (the "Flame Imperishable," as Tolkien would describe it) is the Holy Spirit, who hovers over the chaotic waters of creation, bringing forth love, order, and the hearth-flesh of the created order (most especially in creation's summit: mankind). Just as Frodo's elven blade, Sting, was able to pierce through the great webs of the monstrous spider Shelob in The Two Towers, it is the Eucharistic delight of Trinitarian love which breaks the vampiric net of the dark fire of our enemy Satan.
The "wight" spoken of references an encounter in The Fellowship between the hobbits and an evil undead being who also sucks the warmth of life with its touch. He is ultimately defeated by the paschal warmth of Tom Bombadil's mirth.
Finally, one of the great examples of this clash of fires is between Gandalf and the Balrog in The Fellowship. Hear Gandalf's words in light of this poem: "I am a servant of the Secret Fire ... The dark fire will not avail you!"
"For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness" (Eph 6:12).
"The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it" (Jn 1:5).
Two Fires
A fire forever cold
Has eaten unto shadow.
The light as fell as mould
Corrupting life
My marrow.
And as I welcome
Angel fallen's ear,
My warmth flows down and out of me...
For I am unspun;
My veins toward the one
Who blazes flame so chillingly.
But as the last drop of my wind is taken,
My cry is answered!
Vampiric magnet shaken.
For appearing in the night
Is the uncreated Light,
Which gives the hearth-flesh
Back to man,
From which Dark Fire
Had wraith in plan.
Eucharistic delight
Slashing through the webs of might.
Clearing away the grasp of wight's hand,
Restoring flush and mirth to man.
Two flames clash
Over the skies of the human heart.
One cools, another inflames;
Two worlds forever miles apart.
This poem came to me during the celebration of Candlemas this year. It is also strongly influenced by my current study on the Lord of the Rings. I love Tolkien's imagery of evil as a dark fire that cools in a Dantean sort of way. The Ring remains cool even when Gandalf throws it into the fire in The Fellowship of the Ring, and in a sense, its power lies in drawing light, life, and warmth away like a black hole, inverting and twisting God's creation like the Dark Lord does with the Orcs, Trolls, and Ring Wraiths. Evil is parasitic and cools us until we are spiritually lifeless.
The Uncreated Light (the "Flame Imperishable," as Tolkien would describe it) is the Holy Spirit, who hovers over the chaotic waters of creation, bringing forth love, order, and the hearth-flesh of the created order (most especially in creation's summit: mankind). Just as Frodo's elven blade, Sting, was able to pierce through the great webs of the monstrous spider Shelob in The Two Towers, it is the Eucharistic delight of Trinitarian love which breaks the vampiric net of the dark fire of our enemy Satan.
The "wight" spoken of references an encounter in The Fellowship between the hobbits and an evil undead being who also sucks the warmth of life with its touch. He is ultimately defeated by the paschal warmth of Tom Bombadil's mirth.
Finally, one of the great examples of this clash of fires is between Gandalf and the Balrog in The Fellowship. Hear Gandalf's words in light of this poem: "I am a servant of the Secret Fire ... The dark fire will not avail you!"
"For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness" (Eph 6:12).
"The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it" (Jn 1:5).
BIDM
