Welcome back to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.

I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Tuesday, March 25th, 2025.

It is a day when Christians of the world over observe the feast of the Annunciation,

this moment when the angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary

and announces to her God's intent to make her the vessel of the incarnation. Add to that

that many church fathers believe that the crucifixion also occurred on March 25th,

and moreover, that the world was created on the 25th of March, and finally, the 25th of March

is the day on which the one ring of power was destroyed forever, having been cast into the

fires of Mount Doom. This is a momentous occasion. So today, unfortunately, no Hobbit-related poems,

at least not directly related, but two poems for the enunciation, both titled the

Annunciation, one by Scottish poet Edwin Muir and the other

by American poet Denise Levertov.

Ears emphasizes the condescension, and I don't mean that term in a negative sense, but the

momentousness of the divine and heavenly

coming down to earth. And then Levertov's makes a nice compliment to it by emphasizing the

extraordinary human act that's also involved in this moment of the

enunciation and incarnation. Here is Mears. The Annunciation. The angel and the girl are met.

Earth was the only meeting place. For the embodied never yet traveled beyond the shore of space.

The eternal spirits and freedom go.

See, they have come together, see, while the destroying minutes flow, each reflects the other's face,

till heaven in hers and earth in his shine steady there.

He's come to her from far beyond the farthest star, feathered through time.

...