I’ve been an orphan now

I’ve been an orphan now for one year and a day.
It’s not such an uncommon thing, they say.
Though all of us must have a father and mother,
We all say goodbye to them, sometime or other.

My childhood now is mine alone, and fading memories.
Can that child still be me? What is it that he sees?
Who now will keep that child from harm?
Will I ever get to go back to the farm?

Christ

The cosmic Word in glorious light appears
To speak to Dust, awakened from its fears,
Innocence, Wholeness, Peace, Relief from Pain
Are offered all who lose all, all to gain.

He speaks to Nothing, Something to bring forth
Creating Value where there was No Worth.
No refuge can there be from such a Voice;
No silence, where the song cries out:  Rejoice!

How deep descending, Spirit into Form,
Angelic Presence, glorified in Worm!
How close He nestles to our very Breath.
This Life-Eternal victor over Death!

The world, and all the worlds, he loved, I see:
Sustaining all, for love of even me.

Slow and Dark

Slow and dark, across the sky
The cloud rolls in, its shadow spread
The damp chill in the bones, the sigh,
Unnoticed, heaves upon the sluggard’s bed.

The season winds its way to winter’s sleep.
Life drops its leaves; no need to keep
The once-beloved luxuriant dress
That welcomed summer sun’s caress.

The geese streak south to their retreat
Escaping the impending frost.
The ripened fruit, still firm and sweet
Falls to the earth, to feed its host.

Thus twilight deepens in the fading year
To rule the waiting until Spring draws near.

In the Doctor’s Office

What time I wait
Between the push and wail
Of this quotidian race,
While someone else,
Determined not to fail,
Hurries to show his face:

This waiting time, I say,
Affords me space
To simply sit,
Appreciate the grace
That lets me be
One person, me —
At this one time,
In this one place.

Listening, touching, being

I saw a soul pass by, and paused. Was that a cry?
Beneath the noise of argument, was that a sigh?
Stop, be still, I heard my spirit say; who know when I
Will see again this soul pass by this way?

The sighing soul, so quiet, fearful,
heard my silence, spoke
and paused,
fearing my voice would mock her pain;
I held quite still, as if to say
my presence was no joke
and watched the stillness, till she spoke again.

So gently, trembling, from the secret depths she rose;
The tender soul revealed the wounds she bore,
And let me reach, and touch, within the silence,
The beauty of her being,
Nothing more.

Fantasy and fun

Living a dream, living a lie—
What shall I choose as a story?
To reach a goal before I die
Or go down in flames of glory?

The Christ who gave abundant life,
and called us all to follow
Invites to joy, invites to strife —
Which of these two is hollow?

Today, I’ll live within the scope
Of privileges royal
But may I not forget the hope
To which I have been loyal.

I carry still within my breast
The poor, the foe, the friendless;
For their sake, too, today I rest
In pleasures full and endless.

To be beloved, with childlike glee
And loving now the days
May help me still more clearly see
the great Creator’s ways.

In a moment of stillness

We die to the living,
and live with the dead,

and much more is understood
than can be said.

So we, ensouled as lumps of clay,
Spirits enfleshed  for now, today,
Embracing every brief delight
Releasing, then, into the night,

Dance, we dance, through all the strife
That keeps our souls apart,
We mend within the dance of life
These holes within our heart.

I learned to love

I learned to love by failing
for more than thirty years:
My efforts unavailing
Persisted through my fears.

I learned to love by losing,
By giving up the ground;
I learned to love by choosing
To keep what I have found.

I learned to love by staying
When hope for love was lost;
I learned to love by praying
And counting up the cost.

I learned to love by seeing
That love is more than life.
I learned to love by being
A husband to my wife.

In the rain

In the rain I do not feel inspired, 

My brain and body just won’t go;

Indeed, in rain I just feel tired.

Try as I must, my pace is slow.

 

Still, rain or not, I must awaken;

Must, under overhanging grey,

Not leave my lovely ones forsaken.

Stand up, step out, and meet my day.

 

This dreary rain will quietly feed

In preparation for the sun 

The thirsty earth, the slumbering seed, 

For busyness not yet begun.

 

So I will gain, from these grey showers 

Tomorrow’s food, tomorrow’s flowers.

 

All in Christ

Bless me, O Lord; I need so much

Thy loving voice, thy loving touch.

Without thy blessing, lost am I;

To thy dear feet for help I fly.

Bless me, I pray.

 

Where thou dost lead me I would go

Tho by a path I do not know;

Seeking no better, shorter way,

Nearing my heavenly home each day.

So lead, I pray.

 

Where thou wouldst have me, I would be,

The shadows roundabout I see.

Light from the shining of thy face

Enters each dark and cloudy pace.

So shine, I pray.

 

Feed me, O Lord, tho barren be

Fields all around and barren tree.

Manna thou has in plenteous store;

Give me of this, I ask no more.

Feed me, I pray.

—Kate Philbrick

This is the last poem composed by Mother Philbrick (my great-grandmother) before she passed away May 11, 1928. She was noted for her love of souls and her fervent prayers.

Sympathy pains

I observe the world, watch and pray;
Sometimes that’s all I do all day.
A bombing here, a cancer there—
What can avail my feeble prayer?

With God, I, helpless, see the strife
Feeling the bleeding, the ebbing of life.
In faith believing, despite the pain
That healing Love will prevail again.

No anxious spouse by bedside waiiting
Can match the Love I’m contemplating
The tender care for planet earth
The New Creation’s place of birth.

When I arise from contemplation
I’ll seek the healing of my nation
For God so loved, and loves us still
With love that seeks to heal, not kill.

The Hole

The veil between the worlds
of life and death
time and eternity
wears thin.  Sometimes, a hole appears
and someone we love
steps through.

That hole is our connection
because it is in our hearts
in that emptiness
that eternity calls to us
and invites us also
to step out of time.

A day like every day

A day like every day
Dawns, filtering the tentative dew
With misty sunshine. Something new
May come our way.

Another morning brings a choice
Wherein new comforts face old fears.
The sparkling days confront the dreary years;
Hope and struggle in harmonious voice.

Death walks with me today, like every day.
It stalks, perhaps, or offers sage advice.
It’s one of many, or perhaps, my only day, this slice
Of life, today, this glorious day.

My Valentine

St. Valentine was martyred for his faith,
Met obscure death and fades in legends dim,
Revived by those who seek to honor him
By now declaring love more strong than death.

Love struggles to declare itself today
Though fading and obscure it oft still seems.
In silent sacrifice I bow and pray
Beneath the broken altar of my dreams.

I have emptied my heart.  Why then is it so full?
I have released the reins. Why then this pull?
Now silence has engulfed me, what struggles still to speak?
Now strength has poured into me, why am I weak?

I hold my death within me like a joy, pregnant with birth.
My love will yet arise.
My silence carries songs to fill the earth
My unshed tears
Will touch the skies.

I asked, upon a time, for God to give to me
A love that I could feel, and touch, and see.
And now that God’s own love is mine
I now know what to seek from the Divine.

Turn me, Father, inside out
Glory, glory, glory

When my pain has blessed the world
Let someone tell the story.

Now I ask for nothing more
And, Nothing, you will give—
If I can be truly poor
I will have learned to live.

Today, I Saw

Today, I saw behind my eyes
A dream imparted from the wise.

I saw my friends, from long ago
And if a wish could make it so
I’d see them still, here in my place,
Not far away in time and space.

I ponder, now I am awake,
What I should do for my friends’ sake.

Some lively sport I should be chasing,
Some living friend should be embracing
For when I woke, I still could see,
Though I be blind, my friends see me.