I planned to return to the blog with a piece about what I have been learning during shelter in place, but the events of the last few weeks can’t be put off until a more convenient time. And so, I hope you will accept this poem as an offering, a moment of soul-searching as I listen to the cries for justice happening across my nation, and an invitation to my community to listen well and seek clarity of vision as these events unfold.
Continue reading “When It All Unravels”Category: Poetry
Sheltered
What did Noah do
In all those long days at sea
The whole world a sea
Flooded horizon to horizon
Did it feel like a rescue
That wooden box crammed full Continue reading “Sheltered”
The Goldsmith
Next to the great thinkers,
The builders of castles
It seems I have not the resources nor the skill
To contribute to the arc of human understanding
As much as I desire to think and write
What might change history
I find myself instead twisting gold filigree
An inch at a time
To adorn the thoughts of another Continue reading “The Goldsmith”
RSVP
When Hope issues an invitation
A chance to dream of better
A looking forward to the future
Even against the past
Even against the present
To respond affirmatively
Is to soar and dream
To set aside the tension
Of one’s grounding
Of one’s doubt
Of Rainbows and Mud
(Part 4 of 4 in the “Grief in a Season of Joy” series)
Why do we never enter
the dripping, wild woods
As the rain starts to fall?
We fear the wet, the mud
The fallen leaves’ decay
Never noticing the fragrance
of new life they exude.
In our concern for comfort
Our endless quest for beauty
We do not look in such a way
As to see the foundational
Workings of new life
Leaf litter on the damp clay
Fallen timber awash with rain Continue reading “Of Rainbows and Mud”
Be Gentle with Yourself in Grief
(Part 3 of 4 in the “Grief in a Season of Joy” series)
Be gentle with yourself in grief
You cannot hurry it along by tackling it all at once
You cannot sweep it away without so much as a glance
You cannot dam it in an ever-increasing reservoir Continue reading “Be Gentle with Yourself in Grief”
Go in Peace
(Part 2 of 4 in the “Grief in a Season of Joy” series)
How long, O Lord, will we live in fear of Pain
Wary of being weighed down forever by it
I want to arrive in the city of Hope and dwell in Joy
But Pain will not be left behind while I journey
It clings to my legs, refusing to be forgotten,
And becomes a stumbling block Continue reading “Go in Peace”
Grief in the Season of Joy
(Part 1 of 4 in the “Grief in a Season of Joy” series)
In this season of anticipation, I ought to be anticipating not only the birth of the Messiah, but also the halfway point of my fourth pregnancy. Instead, I find myself grieving loss, recognizing that grief is not always something you can defer to a ‘more opportune time’.
At an Advent retreat last week, I sensed an invitation to begin posting what I’ve written during my grief process, even though Christmas is nearly upon us.
So, for those of you who grieve your own losses in this season of joy, the next few weeks are for you! May you find the freedom to be present with grief as we remember the moment God came to dwell with us, pain and all.
To a Little One I may not get to meet Continue reading “Grief in the Season of Joy”
I Still Remember
I still remember the day
I first put on glasses
Everything looked so crisp and clear
But what I didn’t expect
Was the color
The way it jumped into my vision
The brightness of the clarity Continue reading “I Still Remember”
On Putting Off What Really Matters
I.
a month later
the house in order
I sit down and wonder
where the time goes
when important work is at hand Continue reading “On Putting Off What Really Matters”
