Published March 6, 2019 on the Ancient Paths Facebook page. Cold kitchen rid of lard and all sweetness. Oven unfired, tomb for scents — rosemary, cinnamon. Heedless, a purple crocus bursts its vault. #AshWednesday #AncientPathspoems #AncientPathsarchive

This year, Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day, an interesting confusion of dates. The last time these two holidays converged was 1945. But perhaps the overlap is fitting, given that Valentine’s Day is typically a celebration of love and the Lenten season is a time for reflecting on God’s sacrificial love for us. I’d like to kick off the season by sharing with you George Herbert’s classic poem about God’s love. Herbert was a 17th century metaphysical poet who touched count