Hymn for the Feast of All Saints

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge

Who has cast the canopy
and woven in the light?

Who has joined the break of sky
along the seam of sea?

Who has spun the days with silk
whirled the nights as pitch?

Who has drawn the crimson through 
troubled in the blue?

Who has shaken out the tent 
and staked it in the ground?

Who has rinsed the silver cloud
perfumed the grass with balm?

Who has washed the robes with soap
and hung them in the sun?

Who has wound the shattered up
bound the sutures neat? 

Who has knit your lives in one
a net of shimmering threads? 

Who has laced the living 
with the holy dead?

Who has fastened up the gown
around the infant’s chin?

Who is weaving even now?
Who is blessing all?


Returning to the creation narrative in Genesis 1, I read the stress on the creative act of dividing and separating. I celebrate All Saints with images of joining and knitting together ‘in one communion and fellowship.‘”

—Cynthia Briggs Kittredge

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