“Come, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come”

       Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come

In your fearful innocence.

We fumble in the far-spent night

Far from lovers, friends, and home:

Come in your naked, newborn might.

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come;

My heart withers in your absence.

       Come, Lord Jesus, small, enfleshed

Like any human, helpless child.

Come once, come once again, come soon:

The stars in heaven fall, unmeshed;

The sun is dark, bloods on the moon.

Come, word who came to us enfleshed,

Come speak in joy untamed and wild.

       Come, thou wholly other, come,

Spoken before words began,

Come and judge your uttered world

Where you made our flesh your home.

Come, with bolts of lightning hurled,

Come, thou wholly other, come,

Who came to man by being man.

       Come, Lord Jesus, at the end,

Times end, my end, forever's start.

Come in your flaming, burning power.

Time, like the temple veil, now rend;

Come, shatter every human hour.

Come, Lord Jesus, at the end.

Break, then mend the waiting heart.

~Madeleine L’Engle