Today the prayer is words
I can’t yet find,
words that flit away
like spring juncos, like chickadees.
Today the prayer I wish for
is not the prayer that finds me—
less like the perfume of a fully bloomed flower
more like the dank and fusty scent of spring.
Some days when I forget how to pray,
if I listen with my whole body,
the world reminds me how what is used up, spent
is also a vessel for the holy,
as dry leaves become a nest,
as bare branches hold the sunrise.
Such wonderful and wise observations! “What is used up, spent…a vessel for the holy.” We must empty ourselves of our self-reliance before we clearly see the presence of God. It takes great courage to be open enough to face our own emptiness. Your poem is a demonstration of the grace in humility.
I love the way you say this: “we must empty ourselves of our self-reliance before we clearly see the presence of God.” Thank you for writing it back just that way. It meets me just right.
Rosemerry
the world reminds me how what is used up, spent
is also a vessel for the holy,
as dry leaves become a nest,
as bare branches hold the sunrise.
I adore the work of this poet, who writes a poem daily. I should have lived so long (as person raised in the CRC) as to find her words in the Reformed Journal. Thank you for publishing her wonder-filled way with words!
Thanks dear Emily! I love the synchronicity of our lives–love your word play and great connective mind! Lovely to meet you yet again in these pages!!!
Thank you, Rosemerry. Happy to see your poems here, and happy to learn of Reformed Journal.
I love the poetry here especially! So many other poets I love–Jack Ridl, Barbara Crooker, Elizabeth McBride … I can imagine your poems here, too!
You know in this stage of my life, I often spend evenings taking my chair outside and just looking at the trees. The same trees. For a couple hours.Till the mosquitoes drive me inside