Pew Sheet – 30th November 2025

Advent

Patrick Kavanagh

We have tested and tasted too much, lover-
Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder.
But here in the Advent-darkened room
Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea
Of penance will charm back the luxury
Of a child’s soul, we’ll return to Doom
The knowledge we stole but could not use.

And the newness that was in every stale thing
When we looked at it as children: the spirit-shocking
Wonder in a black slanting Ulster hill
Or the prophetic astonishment in the tedious talking
Of an old fool will awake for us and bring
You and me to the yard gate to watch the whins
And the bog-holes, cart-tracks, old stables where Time begins.

O after Christmas we’ll have no need to go searching
For the difference that sets an old phrase burning-
We’ll hear it in the whispered argument of a churning
Or in the streets where the village boys are lurching.

And we’ll hear it among decent men too
Who barrow dung in gardens under trees,
Wherever life pours ordinary plenty.
Won’t we be rich, my love and I, and
God we shall not ask for reason’s payment,
The why of heart-breaking strangeness in dreeping hedges
Nor analyse God’s breath in common statement.
We have thrown into the dust-bin the clay-minted wages
Of pleasure, knowledge and the conscious hour-
And Christ comes with a January flower.

I particularly love this poem ‘Advent’ by Patrick Kavanagh. He has set it in the austere atmosphere of Advent and in it he explores the idea of returning to simplicity and trying to shed all unnecessary experiences.

The poem is suggesting to us that excessive indulgence has dulled our sense of wonder, and that we need to try and seek to rediscover the childlike innocence and awe we once possessed.
It contrasts this desire for simplicity with all the complexities of the modern world, where we are consumed by knowledge and pleasure (and had Patrick Kavanagh known then about our Mobile Phones and Social Media I’m sure they would have also been mentioned in the poem!).

He is telling us to reject this materialistic and intellectual mindset, believing that true fulfillment lies in embracing the ordinary and mundane.

Like much of Kavanagh’s work, this poem celebrates the beauty and spirituality found in the commonplace.

(and check out his poem ‘The One’ for more on that theme)

I particularly like the line ’Through a chink too wide, there comes in no wonder’ and I remember how I felt as a child contemplating the birth of Jesus. The awe and amazement of the Nativity.

This Advent may we all try to slow down and really appreciate all that Advent can offer us… the quiet anticipation of the coming of our Saviour.

Elaine