The First Sunday of Advent: The Crane

A year ago fall, during a walk on a blessedly abandoned golf course, I began watching the birds that make their home in the reads and bogs of the water hazards. I began pondering them as symbols of medieval heraldry. My meditations resulted in a series of Advent sonnets.

In medieval bestiaries, the crane often represents the one who serves out goods held in common by a community, and watches over the spiritual well-being of the other members. "Close," when used of the crane, means that it holds a stone in one raised claw. The stone is Christ; the claw is the disposition of the mind, so that one who has the care of others must keep Christ always in mind.

Argent: silver, often shown white

Close: of a bird, standing on the ground with the wings closed

Vert: green

Or: gold

Fess: a horizontal stripe across the middle of the shield, occupying about a third of the height

Vermillion: blue

Dexter: right

Bend: a diagonal band across the shield (top left/bottom right as viewed; this is known as a "bend dexter;" a bend to the left would be a "sinister")

He stalks into the clearing crane-head-high,

A streak of argent close against a field

Of vert-and-or fessed with vermillion sky,

Neck dexter bend, unbending purpose wields.

Unrippled image mirrored in the mere,

He presses on with unperturbed pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic, yet draws near,

Preys 'midst the rushes with unrustling grace.

And once again we pray amidst the rush

And hustle to outpace the panting year,

The perning gyre that gyves and will not hush

To let us pause and pray for ploughshared spears.

Oh, clutched by Christ alone, God let me clutch

The corner stone and stop, and wait, and watch.