Tag Archives: motherhood

Givingbirds Light

These little birds flit
around the house
lighting here and there,
sitting on the counters,
standing on the chairs,
zooming through the kitchen.

They make “holy spirit water”
and play church, wedding, and workers,
after post office, house, and kitchen-shopping.

Screaming-mad and cackling-happy
these growing-up friends
make their way through the days
and I watch and hover and release and hold
and grasp and give and wait for their light
to open up my darkness.

A Prayer for Right-Seeing

There are times
it requires the entire will,
every muscle fiber, each heart-string,
to see those squashed banana pieces as jewels,
the bread crumbs as confetti,
the demands as opportunities for love.

There are times
I feel the heart reaching, insisting, pulling
on the harness of right-seeing, yoking
these phyical moments to the ever-lasting instant.

So when the dark douses my light
and plunging, sinking, drowning pride
brings its crooked despair,

breathe for me
and turn my eyes to the sky,
let the water recede
and the salt dry up the pity.

There are times
I feel the heart reaching, insisting, pulling
on the harness of right-seeing, yoking
these physical moments to the ever-lasting instant.

Remind me my image is yours.
I am made for the unconditionality of love,
the humility of Christ.