A Splendor For RS Lou is 98 He sits beside a table with a top that shines and reflects As you were standing there, he says, I saw a figure Tall, and in a robe, and with a hood But it was you, he laughs, in your reflection on the table top Only you and […]
Prepare Sunday–Second Sunday in Advent Prepare the geography of your soul For the caller of every ewe, The shepherd of verdant proclamations: Water the wastelands of unforgiveness With torrential tears See dust turn to dew. Level the mountains of peaked pride So they become grazing fields Feeding the least and hungriest of these, All those […]
Wakes the Dead War will come again No one has abolished war And you are fit for service At home or in the field In the city street Or in the office The sweet wine of the past Gives heavy sleep and vivid dreams But the bitter cup forthcoming Wakes the very dead Pavel November […]
Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa! Mea Maxima Culpa! If I say I’m sorry, will I disappear Like the setting sun behind the mountains When it’s gone, it’s done The fiery sphere consumes no more Mountains swallowed it The highest peaks of faith and hope Glow with love reflecting Reflecting the […]
Cowbirds Cowbirds chatter, black winged clouds, Thousands, fruit that sits in branches, Flocks that wheel above in crowds If this planet were a tree And there were far and near observers Would we seem the same as these? Cowbirds chitter, wheel and curse, Descend and roost where they find room, Cowbirds of the universe In […]
We Wise-men Three The rarity of that burning star, Object of my study for days, Beckoned my soul to a journey far, Beyond my imagining gaze. Embarking with convoy twenty strong, And the sole star ever in sight, I trespassed lonely deserts long, Still unsure of my flight. Not alone was I in my cosmic […]
The Way Stand straight up and then look down, It is a long way to the ground, Big we are the upright, proud, Deep the impact, long and loud Better not to be so tall That devastating is the fall, The arch of heaven curving near That we must stoop to enter, clear The narrow […]
Alert Sunday–First Sunday in Advent Alert Sunday. The greeter has smiles on his palms as he Opens the church doors. Welcome to Advent! A shorter version of Lent in December, he quips. A chorus of coughs and women’s high Heels parading across the floor tiles Help me stay awake for 8:00 a.m. Mass. I never […]
I Saw a Baby I saw a baby at the stream, Perhaps or maybe not a dream, Who played with water, thrust his hand Into the pool, the golden sand And then scooped up a golden fish, This is my life, he said, to bless Or throw again into the pool, To swim from what […]
The Mule Purple, purple, Purple, pink, In evergreen The candles sink. Candle’s age? One thousand yeared, With four four-thousand ‘Fore He appeared. Each Sunday four In front of Yule When she arrived Upon a mule. A revolution Round the stall, Till suddenly On knees were all! Like priest incensing Hallowed altar To bear her Son […]
Come What May As the tree line on a prairie Rises on a darkened river, Human souls along the way Planted sparsely in forever Deep and welcome is that shade On a mountain stands a cross, The shadow is the flow of time, Who lies there, and who is lost If there is nowhere left […]
The Wait November ends Winter pretends She’s harsher than We think. She blows us to Mass Where ringed in green grass Are purple And one candle pink. Purple is lit We kneel then we sit The waiting has now Just begun. Four weeks we will fast ‘Till waiting is past And winter will Dress for […]
Permission The paper which I carried said that I Was qualified to board the plane and fly, But at the boarding station what I heard, Was: Monsieur would request of you a word: I tell you frankly, said and laughed Monsieur, I really don’t know what you’re doing here, You have not been so authorized […]
The Thanking Day With prayer, I start the Thanking Day, At dawn, I kneel, Te Deum, pray. I dress for Mass then wake a son. He’ll serve the priest, a chosen one. A hushed low Mass right after Matins, Our Lord above all sons’ gold patens. He’ll lay upon my wicked tongue, I pray, forgive, […]
All That’s True I saw two trees that grew entwined, The pine tree and the beech tree twinned, As night and day are of one mind Though separate they grew as kin Roots the arms around each other, The pine tree growing evergreen, Close as if the two were brothers, The beech tree fallen autumn […]
Dilating Heart Your grace is overflowing Within my soul and showing A beam of light in tenebrae. My heart I feel is swelling With love, for you’re indwelling, Deep-rooted friend and Domine. Lead onward in this sailing Of white-capped years unveiling To reach the shores of iubilae. And with your strength instilling A tattered heart, […]
That Well When I was a child of four Beneath the surgeon’s blazing light I walked along a burning road Sun upon me while I bled By the road I saw a pump, A handle to bring water up, Iron black in summer heat, I struggled near on my small feet Oh pump of iron, […]
The Joy of God’s Creation In a house filled with loved ones, Loneliness leached into my heart and mind. Like water seeping through moss, It soaked my soul, sinking me. My heart, heavy with grief, ached Like a swollen river exceeding its banks. My only solace, the silk of my baby’s breath against my cheek. […]
I Saw a Baby I saw a baby at the stream, Perhaps or maybe not a dream, Who played with water, thrust his hand Into the pool, the golden sand And then scooped up a golden fish, This is my life, he said, to bless Or throw again into the pool, To swim from what […]
Blame it on another quirky “holiday” – in case you missed it, “Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day” was November 15th. All I know is one minute I was praying to the light at the rear of the dark tunnel for dinner inspiration and the next minute I was waist deep in seven half-empty mustard jars. […]
A Poet’s Whisper Whisper through a blazing trail With careful steps on burning coals With thoughtful deeds in freezing homes Give pure white thoughts to blackened souls. A whisper is a light entwined In darkness set just for a time, A steeple high above the night, A shadow dimmed in morning’s light Whisper visions to […]
Hush The nuns of Puebla were disbanded One hundred fifty years ago In Mexico The dark Reform of Juarez came, O General, you put the nuns away In private life to pray or not to pray No convents, nor in clericals Would Bishops or their priests be dressed, Nor would as Father be addressed So […]
Sailor’s Calm Calm serene days Sizzling stifling doldrums… Crystal clear depths Beneath a silver blue mirror A sailor’s calm… “Calm seas do not make a skilled sailor” Off in the distance Mushroom clouds inflate! Horizon blackens Trade wind wall shatters the calm The mirror splinters Small glittering shards, dancing lights Shards fade to gray Then black […]
The Coldest Fire in the World Black Gum leaf is crimson black And on a branch a red winged hawk Dark becomes the autumn dusk Through the branches crossed and blessed Electric yellow in the west Mice go timid from their nests Down the yellow poplar tree Leaves let go, the hands float free The […]
