Kevin Hartnett Poetry

What Now Do You See?

What now do you see?

And can it be the force of Truth

That here unites two lives as one? 

They vowed to God;

What simple happenstance occurred to make it so?

The book, the prayers, the animated faces-

All speak the great and common tongue of knowledge held most dear.

 

Did He indeed design the complimentary nature of the parties joined?

The elegance of every aspect speaks itself.

And louder still, the order seen in those who likewise vowed in times before.

 

‘Twas Christ Himself who taught that truth

Is heard by those who have an ear;

What now do you hear?

 

-- K. Hartnett, 11/2006

My friends Ken and Rachael Boer asked me to write a poem that they might print and have available on the tables at their wedding reception.  Their prayer and desire was to point non-church-attenders to God, and the fact that marriage is His design- meant in part as as a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church.  I actually wrote them two poems.  This one was the one they used.  The other is called This Picture His

This Picture His

What picture this, that testifies in time 
Of things so grand, sheer time cannot contain, 
And manifests a unity sublime 
Mere mortal consummations fail attain?

These earthly vows reflect the Mind of Love 
Which set eternity to be their end- 
Depicting here the joyful world above 
Where faithfulness on flesh will n’er depend.

A picture true, yet muted tint of truth- 
The order of these partners rightly made- 
No better than the faded print of youth 
To represent maturity conveyed. 

This picture His; its virtues fully shown, 
When Christ Himself shall marry those His own.

-- Kevin Hartnett, 11/2006 

 
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31,32) 

…Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready… (Revelation 19:6,7)

I wrote this poem for Ken and Rachael (Cooper) Boer on the occasion of their wedding.  It's my first attempt in the renowned and revered English sonnet format.