Simeon’s Song

The pure Word of Israel’s God

Sprang whole cloth woven in my mind,

A Word that could not be denied.

With it came the certain knowledge,

“I have been anointed with fresh oil.”

One day when I was younger,

Decades have slipped away,

I stood at Sabbath reading,

Tasseled tallus o’er my head,

His Word leaping from the scroll.

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,

Speak ye tenderly to Jerusalem:

‘Thy long warfare is ended and

Thine iniquity is pardoned!’”

The Word burned within my soul.

I cried: “These words are now my words

God’s true Word spoken unto me.

I shall not die until I see

The comfort of God’s Israel.”

Pious skepticism meets such words,

“There is no Word

save only a famine of the Word.”

His Word I buried very deep,

A heavy burden from my Lord,

Where too often Words that challenge

Our precious lives are stored.

Today that Word has come again.

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people

Speak comfortably to Jerusalem

Cry out to her, her warfare has ended,

Her iniquity is pardoned;

Now is the acceptable time,

Now is the day of salvation.”

Now an old man

I stand within God’s temple,

His Word a burning flame within.

“I have been anointed with fresh oil.

The time has come to cry aloud,

This day is the day Messiah comes.

"Lord, you now have set your servant free *

To go in peace as you have promised;

For these eyes of mine have seen the Saviour, *

Whom you have prepared for all the world to see;

A light to lighten the Gentiles, *

And the glory of your people Israel.”