God Willing, I Will Spend Today

God willing, I will spend today
not trying to reach conclusions.
Its riches all around me lie,
in need of no decision.
Three cardinals that flit across the street
into the trees
are self-sufficient;
the blossoms and the branches
don't require me.
My God is more a hoped-for God
than present,
but if he is and wills,
I will wait upon this day
to show me in its way
how to be,
and with this I will be
and be content.

April 24 2010

Oh If I Could Give You That Ungainly Gift

Oh if I could give you that ungainly gift
what useful answers might spill out
as you tried your best to carefully unpack
its richness. Look, oh
you lost one. Never mind;
one secret I can tell is that
there is always more to discover and
the box is never empty.

April 25 2010

Sleep a Little Longer

Is this quite what you expected?
We can talk sometime about the dreams
you had, there in the pulsing dark
where you first learned
a silent song of movement
and your mother's heart.
For now, you must adjust
to vision and the rush of moments
that you waited for not knowing
that you waited. If
it's all a bit too much,
take comfort in her touch
and sleep a little longer, child,
upon her breast;
The world will wait for you.

April 22 2010

Welcome to Lillian Persson

Worry Stone

The world gave me this worry stone
ready polished and fitted to my hand,
long ago, like an unfamiliar uncle
folding my fingers gently over it
and patting them,
whispering confidentially,
"Keep this; you may need it."
Polite if callow nephew,
I did not say what I believed,
that worry stones have never worked for me,
but kept instead the stone inside my pocket
like a promise; and in truth
its easy weight
and light-veined surface in the dark
have comforted my hand.

April 21 2010

An Almond Moon

An almond moon is in the sky.
Down here, a certain weariness pervades;
a sadness of the soul that sits in judgment on
a day it is good to just be past.
It left a quotient of despair,
arrived at by division of the world
into myself and all the rest.
What is that cruel divisor,
and whose the hand that set the sum?
Is it a subtle test by an examiner
to check my understanding?
If true, I'll take the failing grade
in trade for sleep--and that, above,
small benediction whose impassive face
is in this tedious circumstance
an unexpected, insufficient, but
still welcome grace.

April 12 2010

Once I Knew the Branches of a Tree

Once I knew the branches of a tree
as she does.
Once I knew the better hold for my left hand
than that one;
knew the place where my right foot would fit
and lift me to the seat of limbs,
a living cage commanding earth and sky,
and felt no wonder that I knew.
That is home: to understand the where and how
and why, each detail,
and never need to question.

April 5 2010

Let's Talk About Souls

Let's talk about souls being incorruptible.
Let's consider for a moment what that means.
Do you understand that there may be a party
at any moment in heaven to welcome
the newest member of that band?
There is not time for solemnity
in the face of such radiant joy;
all that is lacking is your joining in
to sing and shout and laugh
as she comes trucking in.
Play your bugle, old Gabriel.
Play your harps, you hangers-on.
Keep your rhythm, try your best to keep up:
An angel of laughter and friendship
has finally come home.

April 5 2010

For Sue Spratt

Steps for a Successful Spring

Brush the red across the trees
lightly as a veil.
Blot with yellow the forsythia
and let the ducks in puddles play--
but send away the ungracious rain
and give the birds instruction in their song,
to make their welcome bright and sure
to capture fickle Spring.

April 2 2010