Simeon's Song

For the turn of the year: an old man holds the child and can let go.

Before a golden altar Mary offers two doves, and the old Simeon, in a priest's red cope, holds the child above the altar cloth. In the foreground a row of children with candles walks past, ordered by size.

A vast, dark temple, and in it one small pool of light. Simeon kneels with the child in his arms and looks upward. Mary and Joseph kneel beside him, and a tall figure seen from behind raises a hand in blessing.

An old man with half-closed eyes holds a swaddled child on his outstretched forearms. He does not grasp it; his hands lie flat together as in prayer. Behind him the face of a woman is just visible.