How Long?

Photo by Lucas Pezeta

A Poem by Elizabeth Wickland

How long does it take

for a star to form,

to live its life,

expend its warm,

to make its way

in cold, dark space,

to find a path,

mark out its place?

How long does it take

for the fullness of time,

generations to trickle

down David's line,

for the days to get shorter

'til the light's all but gone out

for Mary's whisper in silence

to feel like God's shout?

How long had God planned

for that one star to guide

wise men to Christ

from far and wide,

how long is His patience

that a star would be born,

that a people would wait

unforgotten and mourn?

How long, O Lord,

will we sing this song,

how long will we look

to the sky and long

for guidance, for hope,

for your return,

to follow the star

in which your light burns?

Elizabeth Wickland lives in Bozeman, Montana with her husband, daughter, and two Yorkies. She has a love for words and their stories and has responded to life through poetry and art for as long as she can remember. She also enjoys gardening and cultivating beauty in her small corner of the world, whether in person or online. She writes for The Black Barn Online, and her work has been published in The Unmooring, Calla Press, The Way Back to Ourselves, and The Rabbit Room Poetry Substack, among others. You can find her on Instagram at @punamulta.priory and at elizabethwickland.substack.com.