by Walt Garlington (May 2026)
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The Archangel Gabriel
From Heaven to earth swiftly descended,
Appearing to the Ever-Virgin Mary
In wondrous brightness,
Declaring her Full of Grace
And chosen to be the Mother of God.
To this the all-pure and most humble maiden
Gave her solemn assent in faith.
And lo, God the Holy Spirit
Overshadowed her, the Son of the Father
Became the Son of the Virgin,
Dwelling within her most-spacious womb,
And the restoration of man and cosmos,
The conquest of death and hades,
And the opening again of Paradise
Began to be accomplished.
–
–
On the day of that same salvific feat
Nineteen centuries later
Was born in Savannah, Georgia,
Another Mary who would be unwed,
Mary Flannery O’Connor,
Who through study and diligence,
And with God’s gracious help,
Became a wonderful wordsmith.
Purified by her suffering,
God the Word took up His abode
Within her, and to the Southern folk
Falling into the hell
Of secular scientific rationalism,
She wrote often of the Incarnate Christ
And the surprising power of His Grace
To jolt them awake to the reality of sin,
To halt their mad rush away from salvation,
To startle them onto the path of redemption.
–
–
This joyful confluence
Of the two Mary’s appearance
On this day of significance
Is no set of accidents
But God’s mystical Providence,
To Whom alone is due reverence
From all of Dixie’s misfitting miscreants.
Amen.
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Walt Garlington was born and raised in that part of Dixieland called Louisiana. A chemical engineer by training, he has spent the last several years writing full-time. He has written essays and poems for The Hayride, New English Review, The Tenth Amendment Center, The Abbeville Institute, Reckonin’, Katehon, Geopolitica, and USA Really. He writes regularly at his own web site, Confiteri: A Southern Perspective.
Follow NER on Twitter @NERIconoclast
