Hanging Clothes in Autumn
Dandelions and New Beginnings 4/19/2022
Written at Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat
Beginnings shine like the first dandelions of spring
Yellow blossoms out of the gray of winter;
Interrupting the greens and browns of a messy start;
First food for the pollinators who feed our world.
Have you noticed that the bird sings a song for the dandelion;
The bee makes love to the first bloom?
They mimic the fire of the sun warming the frozen earth.
And we poison them, uproot them and feign control.
I am thankful we do not win and they persist.
I am thankful they feed pollinators, shine and grow.
Dandelions are like new beginnings.
Without them—we die.
The Butterfly 7/14/2022
Should the butterfly mend her cocoon?
Should she refuse to ever fly?
This womb formed long ago,
that once seemed all,
on this day begins to stretch
and come undone.
Can one that has never flown
know God's will for a wing?
On the breath of the breeze
she unfurls her beauty and soars.
She shall not crawl
but fly.
This Life (9/2022)
A marvelous mystery
This life that I live.
But a breath and a tear.
But a moment, a sigh.
Surrounded by ancients
in silence so wise.
The oak and the quartz
Galapagos tortoise
Polaris and Gaia
Mycoplasmas, and others.
But my head is too busy
with words and with times,
I can’t hear the silence
won’t see the Divine.
Creation, with labor pains,
groans as I squander
this marvelous mystery,
this sacramental moment.
Eminent mystery
Master of silence
Synchronize this heartbeat
To yours.
Desire's pain (11/1/2022)
There is a pining in my soul for our pairing.
A desperation to unite with the One,
For wholeness of mind, body and soul,
Affection to arouse my being,
And honor my nakedness to the Eternal.
I wait for the oil of Love to imbue my person,
Saturating, softening a weary heart.
Enduring mercy fill me
With Love a mind cannot grasp.
I long for the Eternal One.
I crave the embrace.
No other can satisfy,
I have tried.
Have mercy on me Beloved.
To this frail soul be kind.
For Veterans Day
For some it was the dark of night
For others the first light of dawn
For some soil of a foreign land
For others support at home.
Innocence and breath were left behind
In the hell of death and fear.
It is not war we glorify
But those who faced the beast.
Those who fought
Those who died
Those who wept
Those in whom the nightmares rage
With humble hearts
With grateful lives
Today and always
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you.
11/11/2022
Could it be?
Could it be that God’s desire
Is too big for eternity to hold?
Could it be that only swaddled
And cradled in the tender fold
Of a mother’s arm, our Creator
Would at last be consoled?
Could it be that only when
Nourished at a woman’s breast
The Universe’s Master found
Their heart’s dearest quest?
Nativity and holiness frame
Incarnation’s genesis.
To be known by those dearly loved,
Creating Spirit in flesh encased.
Could it be those who watched saw
Divinity in that infant’s face?
And now the infinite and finite one
Within mortality embraced.
11/27/2022
Pain of love
There’s a darkness
A heavy load in the heart
The weight of one breath
Is unwieldy.
We’ve grown tired.
Weary of breathing,
Exhausted by tears
That won’t fall.
How did you carry it?
All the years with your friends
You knew.
You knew your heart would break.
The pain of the nails truly harrowing,
But the pain of love–
The pain of good-bye
Is all.
2/11/2023
Suddenly
Suddenly he met them,
Even as they walked away.
Their hearts within them so confused
By what the strangers had to say.
He is not here, not in the tomb,
There’s no reason for your tears.
He’s in your midst, at every turn,
Now go back and face your fears.
Then suddenly he met them,
And they knew the truth of love.
It raises up and finds us here,
In the Undying Heart of God.
4/7/2023
The Gathering (5/2/2023)
We sat in silence in that room.
Different theologies, doctrines, beliefs.
Perhaps all Christian–perhaps not.
It did not matter…not at all.
For in that space, in that time
We were one in our quest.
A quest to know—to be known
By the Unknown in whom
We live, breathe and have our being.
A labyrinth, a book, a mandela,
A cup of coffee, a prayer.
All one in the sight,
In the presence of One.
This was a miracle of seeing.
(Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Mark 8:25b)
Loneliness?
(May 2023)
For Catherine
(baptized 5/28/2023)
Child of love remember this
When days are sad and bleak,
Nothing can ever separate you
From the Sacred Love you’ll need.
It shines clear in skies of blue,
And safely hides you in the clouds.
It whispers gently in the breeze,
And with the thunder sings aloud.
Child of love you are made for love
And the God of Love knows you,
Holding you warmly forevermore
In everything you’ll do.
The Way of It. (5/2023)
This morning’s coffee revealed the pillage.
Bird Feeder crashed to the ground,
Some reassembly now required.
The hummer’s nectar guzzled dry,
No bee guard can stop you.
And by the fence one hosta flattened
By a well fed marauder no doubt.
So this evening I watch and see.
Those dark shining eyes plead innocence.
One must survive, you know.
And that, dear masked raider of the night,
Is indeed the way of it.
One must survive, we know.
You are forgiven.
Now SCRAM!!
Memorial Day 2023
We begin this day with silence,
Because in fact there are no words.
How can we show our gratitude
To you who are not here?
How can we express our sorrow?
The words all sound so wrong.
And so in quiet humble prayer
We let our hearts remember all.
Too soon you each were taken,
Because humanity cannot agree
To live in peace and be at rest
And share in earth’s bounty.
So in your honor on this day,
We pledge to you who died
To measure life by what we give
And remember why we are alive.
When another cries out for help
We’ll try to be as you were then
And lay down our lives for the other,
Bringing justice to women and men
We end our thoughts in silence,
Just as we began.
May God bless and keep you forever.
Peace on earth, good will to all.
Communion
Sitting in silence
Under a canopy of green
A rock my throne
And birdsong my crown.
Within, my child
Dances and sings.
Set free in this moment
For Holy Play.
There among the timber
Creation and I commune.
Bh June 2023
The End?
I’m never quite certain,
is this the beginning
or the end?
And how can we know
if we have yet to travel
that path?
The path no one walks
but us.
Beginnings and endings,
first steps and lasts
mingle together
in a single journey
forward.
And so also goes tears and laughter,
the clear, the hidden.
Always moving,
always flowing.
Always gone,
always here.
Still, I cannot be certain, is this the beginning
Or the end?
July 2023
