The Presentation

Within the temple's sunlit court
a prophet stumbles forward,
his bones stiff with age.
His gnarled hands reach out,
the fingers trembling.
Mary hugs her child closer.
Her lips whisper a petition.
She's come to Jerusalem
to offer him back to God.
Her arms open. The prophet
takes the child and lifts him up.
The baby's heart beats faster.
Here am I, come to do thy will.

The nativity

The cold stars
The rough straw
a child shivering ...
is this, then, all?
The journey long
I have made
to join with slaves
who kneel afraid?
Tears reveal my sense of loss ...
the star when blurred becomes a cross.

The Visitation

I was sitting,
resting the ache of old bones
the babe within heavy
when I heard her step,
light and quick.

Looking up, I saw her,
so young, my dear cousin,
her smile a blessing,
and in her eyes a light
that penetrated my heart,
like a shaft of breaking dawn.

The babe within me
leapt up, I swear, leapt
for joy.

The Annunciation

The long-awaited day dawns.
Head bowed, Mary kneels.
In the reverent stillness
her heart beats, yes, yes, yes ...

Light explodes around her
vanquishing the shadows.
The fearsome angel speaks
between stumbling heartbeats.
Heaven grows still to hear
her whispered yes, yes, yes ...

The storm

Lord, help me when like Peter I take my eyes off you.

The storm is here
the boat awash
but the master of the storm
ride with me.

The waves are high
the thunder loud
but the master of the storm
rides with me.

Soon He will rise
bid peace, be still
for the master of the storm
rides with me.

Prisons

Lord, I thank you that you save us even from those prisons that we build ourselves.




From Joseph
to Paul
there were prisons,
long years
locked away,
enforced solitude,
days of waiting,
nights of watching,
for you
who came
who always come
with deliverance.

Broken Streets

O Lord, your feet were nailed to the cross to show us the beginning of the only true path.

Broken streets we walk upon
on wounded feet
toward a dawn
that ever dims and fades away --
the false light of
deceiving day.

Your Sorrowful Street makes us whole
to walk there heals
a wounded soul.
It leads us to a city fair --
eternal day is dawning there.

Forgiveness

How slowly our hearts open to your love, O Lord

Forgiveness is
a fragrant blossom
sweetly covering
barren branches,
the promise of
much fruit to come.

Poem 1

Life is a journey whose beginning we don't remember. Yet every life has its first moment of awakening.

I struggled in my cage
and turning saw you 
sadly standing in the road.


I think you wanted me
to come. The grey hills
slept in the soft dawn mist.


Somewhere a bird cried
a love song to the sky.


After you had gone I
leaned against the bars
and wept.