The Mantle (part 1)

(...on being in the garment industry, spiritually speaking. A patchwork of Scripture.)

What can I say of the One who reaches
and grasps the curtain of heaven to pull its light from the rod where it hangs
to wrap it about Him like a garment;
whose mantle of light flashes embroidery of honor and majesty
for its insignia?

What do I say when He comes, walking on the wind,
in His perfect knowledge, to balance the clouds
that they might swirl around me like a cloak
for warmth, and to quiet my part of the earth?
I am speechless.
So He speaks.

"Lift, the cloak," He says, "and regard its lining."
"Though light as silk, and white upon your shoulders,
though scented with the spice that is every kind of life
though rustling, quiet as a fountain sealed, when you move under it, still
it is woven of heavy thread, and silent grief, and ancient cost."

So, I lifted the hem from my breast.
So I regarded the lining, as He said.
And in wonder I noted,
that though the surface gleamed and glittered fresh like snow,
and shone like a pearl of fine quality, still
its lining was drab, like ditch water.
And I sought to know why my new cloak should so abhor me where it hugged my flesh.
He said, "If you have courage, I will show you. But it is a great mystery,
one of the greatest draped over that creation called mankind."
"Lift and look again," He said.

Chorus:
Job 38:12
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; [and] caused the dayspring to know his place;
Job 38:13
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
Job 38:14
It is turned as clay [to] the seal; and they stand as a garment.
Job 38:15
And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.