To learn the unwanted lesson To walk the uneven path To seek an unknown destination What lesson must I learn From estranged children Seeking their own world Needing freedom from mine I learn the hard lesson Of loving more And holding less What path must I walk Through light and dark Seeking my own God Needing freedom from others I walk the hard path Of believing more And knowing less What destination lies ahead As I stumble onwards Seeking my own divinity Needing freedom from depression I seek the hard destination Of accepting more And trying less
Month: October 2022
AweFull
My childhood was lived in awe Awe of God, our Father Creator Awe of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son Awe of the Holy Ghost Three Persons in one God Awe of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church Mostly awe of the Church Each parish church Cathedral-like, darkly quiet Each daily Mass Celebrated by the robed priest In millennial choreographed Latin The host, True Presence Received on the properly prepared tongue (By which I mean a tongue that belonged to someone who had gone to Confession on Saturday) No wine then, except for the priest The buildings The statues The candles The incense The pews The Communion rail The Repository Everything bejeweled Awe everywhere Awe enough to shout down questions Awe enough to shut down mouths Awe enough to wound, again and again And always, all around Just outside the triune God And His church Just outside Unnoticed Was awe enough for anyone
Leaf Rain
“It’s raining leaves” Mom is beyond the autumn of her life Living through the deep winter of loss Even those of us a generation younger Are now old ourselves Her world overflows with bad news Sometimes a drizzle As she learns of a younger relative Entering assisted living Sometimes a torrent Death, disease, disability Drumming a sad song On the roof of her mind Born and raised in steadily green Southern Louisiana She reacts with a child’s glee To Virginia autumn I thank Mother Nature For small blessings That make a 98 year old Sound young: “It’s raining leaves.”
Law And Love
Law pulled my eyes up to God Somewhere above sky and stars Beyond sun and Milky Way Greater than greater Stronger than strong Longer than long Giving the law That we must follow To reach his high exalted throne Law pushed my eyes down on myself And on others We sin, venial and mortal Close to worthless We fail, time and again To follow our high Father’s perfect law It is hard to love When you feel worthless Hard to love When you feel unworthy Hard to love When you look down On being human Love, oh love Set my eyes straight Taught me to look at flowers Trees, bees, grass, dogs, fireflies Love held me still When the black snake Slithered Into our small pond When the dragonfly Flew Across the back porch When Woody Pressed My face to his chest
God To Me
(“Ada’s poem” refers to Ada Limon’s poem, What It Looks Like To Us And The Words We Use”)
My morning question Often “What does God look like to me today?” Once (Seems like a long time ago in a galaxy far far away) The image of God Came easily An old bearded man Finger outstretched To create, yes But also to blame And to damn All-knowing All-seeing (try mediating on THAT as you sit on the toilet) Quick to condemn Sacrificing His own Son In His thirst for justice (Or was it jealous vengeance) The perfect son Of the perfect mother Both virginal Both suffering Both lonely Exalted Impossible role models And the Holy Spirit to complete that triune God Later I learned this theological nonsense: The Father’s knowledge of Himself is the Son The love between Father and Son is the Holy Spirit The best thing about this In the theology of the Catholic Church Is that no woman is necessary No desire, no lust No messy menstruation No messier childbirth All clean, neat, sterile Masculine … Then, for years I knew the Goddess First as part of that Trinity But more and more On her own Her own trinity Virgin, Mother, Crone Adventurer, nurturer, wise woman Now my answer more often Resembles Ada’s poem Divinity is the name I give To the supernatural immanence Of this gloriously natural world To Gaia, to humanity To the eternity questing of my own spirit
A Day of Atonement
Just imagine For one moment A day of atonement One day Each year What would my life be I wonder With a day of atonement Each year Well, to start, maybe I would only have 364 days Of regrets No need, perhaps To carry still 65 years later That stupid mistake That angered Sister Rosemarie No need, perhaps To carry still 56 years later That stupid mistake That angered my parents No need, perhaps To carry still 47 years later Those stupid mistakes That ended my marriage No need, surely For indulgences Worth centuries in Purgatory No need for weekly repeated Forgive me, Father, For I have sinned Atonement Such a restful possibility Such a sure foundation For tomorrow
These I_s
I swim through the universe As it shapes itself around me Holding me close As it shapes around A pebble A blade of grass An ant An elephant A mountain As fish swim Through the ocean Hugged so close That the waters Ripple around their bodies So we swim Through the universe Hugged so close That space Ripples around us These ripples Where I meets I Ah, these ripples These I_s Surely Create divinity