This Saturday, I was blessed to be part of a beautiful Lenten retreat lead by the Rev. Dale Custer that focused on the Annunciation in the midst of Lent. We all need to find our ways to carry God into the world. This poem is my present experience of trying to do that. I hope this Lent is moving you toward the empty tomb that wombs resurrection.



My Annunciation

My heart is stirring
And fearful to beat
It skips
Limps
Hardens.
Nearly lost,
I press through this broken travel that goes no where
Around
Except towards a halting death,
And -- dare I dream? -- I want that it goes deeper, lovelier, truer, and for others.
I wander a sand-filled wadi
Where the dry desert gravels rutted.
I cannot help but search for something here that will fear
And fill
The shallow
Emptiness.
But I will not pretend a false flash of water
Or a momentary seed breaking green
Only to whither and disappear as it rose.
This may be all there is, this fierce little valley that waits for the rain.
Perhaps that is all I need;
All that there is.
Like an empty tomb or a barren pregnancy
That echoes no longer with a hollow yearning
For an ordinary body
But beats surprised with the percussion that drums
And wombs hope in the silence.

This is a poem I wrote after a wonderful vestry retreat with the leadership at St. Luke's in Blackstone. It was a blessing to be with them and their priest, Sandi!
Above is the Chinese character for love (Ai) which might thought of as a portrayal handing your heart to another. I like that it is a rather messy character that takes some time to get all the little "spatters" in place too.

The courage
To love
Humbles
Inspires
Terrifies
Souls us.
It is a rare thing
Given our ease
With speaking of love
When it comes to
Loving this or that thing
Or the people who easily love back
Or first.
This is hardly love at all.
When we love --
Truly love with
Tears and passion
Giving and loosing
Agonized ripping of the muscle --
Love,
Can we help but see
And know
Ourselves
More honestly
And stand stripped and in wonder
Before the stretched holiness
As it pierces our lives
With depth
And something too mysterious
To be mentioned with much clarity
Yet we know more certainly
When we find it
Like home
Or God
Or breathing
In and out.