By Walt Garlington
How the lands of our forebears once shone
With the iridescence of the Gospel’s glow!
Saint Timothy illumined northern Africa –
His body, burned alive, left ashes
Kindled with noetic fire
That drove away the darkness of idolatry
From a multitude of hearts.
Saint Manire of Scotland’s northern Highlands,
His apostolic preaching became more powerful
Through the persecution he endured –
His words and deeds, crystals radiating light.
Dixie’s carelessness and mulishness have allowed
Their memories, and many other holy ones’,
To be lost in the black mist of oblivion.
But our lives will never be complete without them,
For they are sacred members of Christ’s Body,
Filled with His Grace, and separate from them,
We deny ourselves deifying gifts.
How quickly should we repent of negligence
And willful spurning of these chosen ones,
And search unsparingly for every one of them
Among the ruins of the past,
Among the Orthodox ages
Of European lands and African,
So that, cooperating with them,
Southern life might reach its summit
Before the final apostasy arises
That will blight ev’ry folk and land
And bring the Savior back to earth,
Which for evil and for time will mark their end.
Walt Garlington is a chemical engineer turned writer and editor of the website Confiteri: A Southern Perspective. His other poems include “Constantius Lee,” “Zebulon Lee,” “Memorial Day in Dixie,” “Lee in Agony,” and “Prophet Jeremy the Pillar-Dweller.” Be sure to check out Garlington’s most recent part-history, part-apologetics, all-cultural-critique essay at Orthodox Reflections.
Feature image: Carved about 1,300 years ago, the Kildalton Cross is “one of the finest and most complete Christian crosses in Scotland.” Emerging from Great Britain, Ireland, and France in the Early Middle Ages, it is a type of cross that would have also been familiar as far away as Northern Africa.
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Amen!
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And hallelujah! ✊💓