A Few Words on the Soul (Translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh) We have a soul at times. No one’s got it non-stop, for keeps. Day after day, year after year may pass without it. Sometimes it will settle for awhile only in childhood’s fears and raptures. Sometimes only in astonishment that we are […]
Forgive Me The old tangled bramble Stretched thorny arms one spring, Reflected on his gnarled life… Do I regret anything? I’ve sheltered fragile birds Within my thorny arms, Kept them from danger Kept them all from harm. A man came to the bramble With evil in his cold eyes. Roughly he chopped away. If he […]
Full Circle The waves seem to beckon to me as I lie in the glistening sand and ponder the Immortal Hand that created all I see. I am drawn, deeply, to the easy rhythm of the waves striking land and pulling back from where I stand looking longingly out […]
Agony Praying in a garden, Leaning on a rock I know that Pilate’s soldiers Are going to torture and mock. I’m sweating and I’m weeping I’m losing blood and tears My people shall shout “Crucify!” It’s almost too much too hear. Yet My Father up in Heaven This is His will for Me So I […]
Lovers’ Hope! Early spring frost glazes budding Yoshino cherry blossoms. Glittering, glittering in late morning, under a chilly sun. Lovers pause. Mid-afternoon warmth destroys the illusion. Crackling ice tinkles to the ground. Melting, dissolving into the dirt of death. ………….Or life……….. A violent protrusion of crocus greens extrude Soil particles still damp with melted frost. […]
Do you know what it means to receive a consolation from the Lord? In the work of prayer for example, it is when you feel a deep sense of His presence. But even in our day-to-day lives we can receive consolations from the Lord. These come in the form of a perk, or a little […]
In His Place VII The weight, the whips, the jagged rocks, I cannot bear it all. The cross, the shouts, the shooting pain; I stagger, stumble, and fall. Look at me, a man like you In all things but sin. Left alone and mocked by all, Forgotten and Forsaken. The sin, the hate, the treachery, […]
Heartsong Two tender souls reside apart, Two hearts aflame for Love That come together seeking, each, The counsels of the heart. Two hearts aflame, two souls afire, Find shelter deep within And share the strength to gently lift the other heavenward. In Love, in Truth, in daily grind The end remains in sight There’s no […]
I sent my six-year-old daughter to deliver some lemons and oranges from our yard to the widow next door. Worried that she might rudely deliver the fruit and leave without a word, I called to her, “Don’t forget to say, ‘You’re welcome.’” When my daughter returned, she gave me the full report: “I rang the […]
It’s what makes you, unconsciously, rock back and forth, shifting your weight from one foot to the other, cradling your little baby, while waiting in the one out of 32 currently open grocery store lanes. It’s what lets you ease your minivan onto the highway at the precise merging speed while refereeing a third row […]
In His Place VI Behind each act of generosity There lies a hint of eternity. That is how I leave my trace; My seal of love for all. As when Veronica, filled with grace Slipped through the guards to wipe my face I left my mark within her shawl For every man to behold. And […]
Walking Trees Superficial sorrow Tears white-washing your sepulchre. Soon, soon enough Dry bones will crumble Into the eternal stone sarcophagus Of a life barely lived. A Walking Tree, bearing no fruit, For, your roots penetrated only The surface of His mantle, Never reaching His core: The consuming fire of love That streams under roots drawing […]
If Not to Hell Suppose that God had let them stay In Paradise for one more day, No sword of fire at the wall For their betrayal and downfall To see one day and then the next Development of intellect, Plow and harrow and the seed, The pulling out of Eden’s weeds The felling of […]
Why I do this? Last time I did, it took my husband two weeks to get me out of the laundry room corner. Why do I torture my fragile ego with magazine articles which ultimately make me feel domestically inadequate? The latest culprit? “Bedroom Design Don’ts: Ten typical mistakes people make when designing a bedroom”. […]
In His Place V Do I err to reminisce, That promise you once gave, While in distant times of joy and bliss, You declared to all with boastful pride Your intention to suffer by my side? O, Thomas, your pledge so brave, Uttered in hasty ignorance, Does me little while I approach my grave. And […]
The Fall In the garden we plucked heavenly fruit and slept in the chaste shade, contemplating the untouchable loveliness of our flesh. We shared dreams like kisses and marveled as they formed a single body, so it seemed I was you and you were me. We studied each other like rare stones and like rare […]
When my daughter was about four, I was telling her that while we were in church everyone needs to be extra quiet. When we are, Jesus can talk to us in our hearts. And if we are quiet, we can hear Him. She said, “Okay, Mommy,” and about a minute later she said, “Oh Mommy, I hear him.” […]
In His Place IV Nameless faces surrounding me; All but one, that one I see. Mother, must you glimpse me now With mangled flesh and splintered brow? I cannot bear your presence here; Not you, O Woman, my mother dear. But you have come for me, you say; To inspire me in this disarray. “Fear […]
Ancient Ones Blue and green their globes of eyes, The hunting of the dragonflies, Hulls of crystal swivel, catch The swarms arising from a hatch Summon now the ancient ones, The falcons of the Permian, Great with rowing their wing spread, They loop and stitch the sun with thread But now in falls of yellow […]
Truth: Platinum of Highest Purity Promising ground has been found Hopeful men send for the drill The steel bit rotates its teeth Grinding and crushing through rock and earth Till it reaches rich oil. Men dig long tunnels The hired go to the pipes Drilling, blasting, crushing, and sorting They strip the cave of blue ground […]
Come With Me Come with me to where the Milk House Ford Is paved with cobbles, now so long ignored, But once the wagons crossed and climbed a grade To Seventh Street, a country road in shade Blue-white milk that rocked inside the cans Carried up to where a Safeway stands, But then a store […]
Love (III) Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin, But quick-eyed Love, Observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew near to me, sweetly questioning, If I lacked anything? A guest, I answered, worthy to be here: Love said, You should be he. I the unkind, […]
I was riding the ski lift with one of my pupils, a little girl of roughly seven years. She could not keep her eyes off me. I thought it was really sweet, having a crush on her teacher, as it were. When we reached the top and the ski lift stopped, she finally spoke to […]
In His Place III Along the path up Calvary I looked for you but couldn’t see You in the crowd that followed me Up the road to Calvary. I stopped my step and looked around At all the faces, but never found You by my side while I was bound To my cross and thorny […]
