Category Archives: Poems

Love Song (II)

In the spirit of prayer
I wait for you in our garden
while myriad antagonistic circumstances thwart our reunion;
daily toil keeps you in the village,
and young garden nymphs conspire to wear me out long before evening.
By nightfall the pomegranate halves beneath my veil run pale,
and your radiant and ruddy cheeks have become over-ripe.

And so we retire long after the day has cooled and the shadows lengthened,
one after the other;
but we wake together, both in the garden,
to begin again, in the heat and in the shadow,
our playful delight in Love’s sweetness.

Love Song (I)

Time moves and moves –
the days do not come just as clouds
dotting the sky
but as storms and sunshine.
Perfection falls away
and expectation vanishes –
what comes to me now
but surprises and gifts?
For in the mystery of suffering
God’s grace abounds
and his love is constant.

And so, I do not only love you,
but trust you –
indeed, my whole self trusts –
heart, mind, soul, strength –

Can there be a greater choice –
to love, to trust, to give
everything
in hope and in joy,
in the spirit of happiness,
the spirit of prayer?

Signs

A flash of silver catches my eye –
my cheek is on the carpet
as I flatten my shoulder, reaching beneath the side table,
taking hold of the lost pacifier –
I see the silver undercarriage
of a toy car lying on its roof, tires aloft.
I rescue it, too, then roll onto my side,
my back,
my belly,
and I find them –
silver flashes here and there,
beneath the tv stand,
under the chair,
behind the couch;
I saw them earlier next to the oven,
the refrigerator, the dishwasher;
they are everywhere on the ground, hidden,
signs that he lives here:
Mr. I-Am-Eighteen-Months-Old
-And-I-Love-Little-Cars.

I keep my eyes peeled
for other signs,
flashes of divinity,
bright sparks here or there –
but my search turns up nothing.
Instead, my ears take in the soft whispers,
“I’m sorry,” “I love you,” “That’s okay.”
They are all over the house,
in the bedrooms,
floating across the kitchen table,
sweeping up the stairs,
and through the hall,
signs that he lives here:
the God of Love,
the God of Forgive-
And-Your-Sins-Are Forgiven.