Remove the twisted,
Clustered stitches of my callow heart,
Replace these with colorful threads,
Woven in your art.

Your dexterous touch is all my soul
Needs to become rich tapestry.
Your gentle hands e'er mend longing,
Crooked stitches with your breath
                                                Of Beauty.

If all our friends were in one place,Gathered in eternal space,Hearts remembered one by one,Hope realised, joy become
The substrate of immortal grace…I would have one special faceTreasured always, with a gladnessUntarnished by all wordly sadness:
Yours indeed, my special friend,For consolations that put an endTo introverted trouble and pain,And made me sigh and smile again.

There was a saint–his name was Valentine–Pope Gelasius sainted him with this laud:"His name is justly reverenced among men,But his good acts are only known by God."
Now if this is the case with Valentine,Lost though honorable, unknown yet still true,Then it must not be quite so out of line,
For me to express how I admire you.
Valentine's […]

What regret can you have? I have given you life -Take the sharp end from a thorn and the edge from the knife,The ache from the leg and the back, and never old age,And from the enjoyment of sin remove me the wage,Let me devour the surplus without any work,Let every error of choice be […]

The flesh of Earth was sick todayAnd did not rise from sleep,Summer forests drained to gray,The oceans black and deep
Sleepers did not wake from dreamsNor flowerings unfold,Desiccated lay the streams,Blood and flesh were cold
Who will raise my corpse to lifeAnd cover me with skin?Who is the surgeon with a knifeThat cuts existence in?
Unless one comes […]

Wind whispers upon my skin and draws meBack to cold Midwestern, winter nightsSnow flakes falling soft on quiet branchesOnly stillness broke the silence
To prefer the freezing calm of mountain air And mute thunder to warm ocean waterSighing on the shore would seem strangeYet preference lies frozen there
The cold that numbs the body, sobering mind And […]

There used to be no vacancyWhen zeal for God yet burnedBut entered in complacencyFew hearts for God now yearnWe fill our inner passagesWith much of worldly fareAlong with evil's imagesGrown harder now to careBefore the smoldering wick shall failGod's Spirit blows againTo fan a flame that shall prevailAnd vanquish growing sinPain shall be the instrumentThe […]

There've been written many versesAbout God's best and what the worst isHeaven's doorway out of hellTo God's eternal wealthNever trust in what you doBut only in God's grace toward youTreasures come and then they goWhen ill fated winds shall blowEarthly gold can be so fleetingA lesson yet that bears repeatingSanctuaries built to usIn which we […]

The “I Am” has entered here All that is;“Here” is such a lowly place—Bethlehem.He comes to do whate’er His Father bids,To give His loving peace and not condemn.Yet condemned He was in sinful man’s sight,Sight that was not good though what is is good,So God revealed His blazing, radiant light,So errant man might well have understood,
But now […]

Wash your hands in morning snowBefore the scars of earth have scoredThe skin of it with iron plows,Trampled, fouled and ignored
Weightless when it falls and stark,Soundless in enormity,Numberless, a jeweler's work,Intricate severity
Melted in the human handA phase transition makes it runEnough to baptize every manAnd woman underneath the sun
And as the Lord came down from […]

Do you believe in Santa Claus?Oh yes, I really do!He is a man of Heaven,Who’s good all through and through.His real name, St Nicholas, was shortened just a bit,For Santa sounds so magical, it really seemed to fit.
He came from a wealthy family,They loved him till they died.He was still so very young,He must have […]

Soon I will pass and goThrough the door now closed.Open then, I will take the pathSee the blossoms fadingBreath the scent of beauty waning.At the road's edge I'll standLook back and wave my handOnce, or twice, perhaps, and smile.Do not think I will be gone awhile.
Soon you will forget I onceWas where you stand and […]

Brick by brick I built it not even knowing I was.The mortar is thick and sloppy,Uneven and dripping down drying in a cement waterfall.Each brick is a pain, a hurt, a barrier to your love.I want to tear down the walls I scratch and dig with my bare handsTill my fingers bleed and my nails […]

You are here again.You've come, O Gift of Heaven.I kneel in grateful awe.How quietly you come among us.
Loving patiently, waiting always,Your arms outstretched, O gentle King.With you the promise comes;You will never leave.
What would you say to meif I were just to listen.Search my heart and melt my spirit.How quietly you come among us.
The most […]

A message to ev’ry Catholic poet,Who is willing and able to write art:
Here is your chance so try not to blow it—‘Tis a chance to serve God with your whole heart,A world that is steeped in dark corruption,Needing to be moved by good moving words,Words that give both delight and instruction,Sharply piercing hearts as with […]

Like any corporation We're guided by the Board.Their faith is Apostolic.The Chairman is our Lord.When we come to worshipWe give God all we've got.But with so many voicesSome say we're polyglots.
First we ask for mercyAnd acknowledge all our sins.Then we praise God's goodness And sing the angels' hymn.
We hear the words of prophetsAnd sing […]

We decompose and recompose,Simultaneously forever.The sun burneth still so brightlyWith other false forms together.Am I author of mine own art?No! I'm a player of a part.
What in this wide-wide world is mine?What may I, a man, make as Man?What I make is already made!What is mine of sea, sky, or land?Nothing! I make with borrowed […]

These taut strings strung in a chord teach me [Truth].
Their sound still teaches me, though taught before.
The notes linger in my mind more and more,
Forsooth! In truth! I know not how, forsooth!
Strange! The rhythmic rhymes send a reason when,
They each exist a part of passing time,
Yet heard with all else art all art sublime:
Alas, memory […]

My Lady, My Lady of Sweetness and Sorrow, Behold! Thy Son suf'ring today and tomorrow, He, Our King and God, is here crowned with thistle thorn, Whose violet flow'rs refuse to show or e'er adorn.
With tenderness and love you gaze upon his face, And through his eyes above receive His loving grace. O Mother, whose […]

What woman with ten drachmas would not, if she lost one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she had found it? And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, I have found the drachma I lost." In the […]

The expense of Spirit in a waste of shameIs lust in action; and till action, lustIs perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust; Enjoy'd no sooner but despisèd straight; Past reason hunted; and, no sooner had, Past reason hated, as a swallow'd baitOn purpose laid to make the taker […]

          When God at first made Man, Having a glass of blessings standing by — Let us (said He) pour on him all we can; Let the world's riches, which dispersèd lie,           Contract into a span.
           So strength first made a way, Then beauty flow'd, then wisdom, honour, pleasure: When almost all was out, […]

She was looking for something to save her from death Or at least to put obstacles under his feet, Keep him from rising to conquer her breath, Smother her heartbeat, the merciless thief
Perhaps if she filled up the room with a crowd To surround her with bodies he wouldn't get through, Raised up their memories […]

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,     Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack    From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning    If I lack'd anything.
"A guest,' I answer'd, 'worthy to be here:'    Love said, 'You shall be he.''I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my […]

Lord, when the sense of thy sweet grace     Sends up my soul to seek thy face. Thy blessed eyes breed such desire, I dy in love's delicious Fire.      O love, I am thy Sacrifice. Be still triumphant, blessed eyes. Still shine on me, fair suns! that IStill may behold, though still I dy.
     Though […]

 
to a young child
 
Margaret, are you grievingOver Goldengrove unleaving? Leaves, like the things of man, youWith your fresh thoughts care for, can you? Ah! as the heart grows olderIt will come to such sights colderBy and by, nor spare a sighThough worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie; And yet you will weep know why. Now no […]

Within the old fort, in the woods overgrown Near the mound where they buried the magazine To store their cruel iron a thicket grows — A young doe naps in the afternoon
Behind the green leaves her rough bed hides And winding wands secure her in shadow, The air is grayish and cool inside, Sun on […]

Darkling beetle, black and shining jewel, What jeweler could have formed you, with what tool? What burr or jig or pliers set your shape, On what suspended rod your armor draped, On which round mold your head and thorax bent, For whose joy were those elytra meant — What burin graved the parallels that runFrom […]

The one who falls, is falling reaches for me, The weakened hand grips tightly as it can, That which pulls her backwards grips her firmly, Down into the blackness of the wound
Desiccated blood, not salt, it does not weep — Cavity in vision, God's excision, Not dream or vision, nor a sleep, No ghost or […]

I thought about the city precinct houseWhere fierce corrupt detectives in white shirts And ties enforced the scared obedience Of those who lived around them in apartments
Prisoners were beaten on the streetBefore they even entered to be booked, And if their fists were sore they used their feet — Through their window secretly I looked
I […]

The midnight rain deforms all footprintsEven in the garden of Gethsemane — How can we follow what no one can see? The weight of Him bends not even the violets
What trail or trace in the souls of us, Where the unmagnetic compassWhat clue in the wind, what feeble scent?
Follow Him deeper, He is within, Follow […]

Hope springs eternal on New Year's DayNineteen Fourteen,And all sing Auld Lang Syne;But Hell sings infernal songs (who hears, pray):"Till a' ye see's gangrene, my boys,A' ye see's grangene,And I will have ye here, my boys,Where a' ye see's gangrene."
Thus the red rose burns and has for theeThe subtle stench of blasphemy,And bell's chimeIs Hell's […]

 
Space is merely Euclid's box,Relatively tiny,Theoretically speaking,And pierced with holesSo that the spiritsTrapped withinCan breathe     the breath of light.
And light,Snail-like,Sneaks up on usAcross the void;No longer the king of speedBut a dethroned loitererTrapped withinAnd hanging upon     the wyrd-woven web.
So,naked,one stonekneelsbeforethe Rock.

 
Like the beat of a heart,pounding, pounding,like the beat of a drumas an army moves out,like the pain of a woundthrobbing, throbbing,The whole weight of sinon the wood of one cross.
How high we pile it,higher and higher,the guilt load, the sorrowon the weight of His head,Each act of darkness,blacker and blacker,The whole weight of sinon […]

 
What miracle was made inside the tomb?What transformation, wonder of deliverance?What tree of Jesse growing from what stem?What new creation rising from a chrysalis?
As I am blind to see inside a stone,Deaf to hear the music of the dawn,Touchless to compare the moon and sun,Speechless to describe transfiguration
How can I express that moment's lengthWhen death […]

 
I thought I saw the risen birds fly upBut they were only fallen leaves — a gustOf southern wind had made them whirl and leap — The men around the Crucifix were ghosts
Who disappeared like smoke when flames go out — Bestial bellowing and mockeryWent still, and only death was there to shoutIts silent thunder, […]

Jesus dies on the cross
Silence in the morning, day must break,God Himself be fastened to a stake;Who is worthy to be here, to seeChrist abandoned to a naked tree?Sorrow's children, offspring of disgrace,Why should you be witness to His face?Turn away, the world has drawn its breathTo see the maker of it hanged to death […]

 
The holy well is lost or never wasThough we have drunk the water of it, noneCan tell you where to find it now — Lost spring, lost consolation, and we thirstLike Christ who hung for hours in the sun
Well of blessing, deep shade and reposeBeneath the linden or the elder oakNow stifled underneath a square […]

Jesus is stripped of his garments
Here's a world of cruelty and steel — Where else could the innocent be strippedAnd not arouse a terror of the angels — In what prison is their justice kept?
Come and help Him Michael, Gabriel,The cross is seated in the earth, the nailsWere sharpened in the factories of hell,Their justice […]

Jesus falls the second time
He falls a second time, as if the earthWere reaching for His flesh, as if the darkWere flowing from the tomb to clutch his heart -How close is death when evil does its work
Listen then, a hush falls on the crowdThey wait to see Him rise again, or fail,The innocent, the […]

Did He fall alone, or me and you?There came a dimness in the sky, the dovesThe Temple keeps for sacrifices flewIn rapid desperate spiralings aboveThe tortured prophet of unceasing love
‘Up and stand', the Roman soldiers said.They pulled Him up and told Him ‘You're a manWho's got an urgent meeting with the dead — We're here […]

(Pilate to himself)
A raging mob?  I'd rather face the beasts –At least a lion killer has a sword;But this is rabble maddened by the priests,Held at bay by nothing but my word
Stink of breath, of rage, of something worse,A shifting of the atmosphere, a stormOf jealousy, a diabolic curse:Malevolence, the stinging of the swarm
And I'm […]

 
They sleep as though in hiding from the dawn,And now to buy their wakening with this:By miseries of hell their heaven's won,Tortures of the damned to purchase bliss
O dear Father, let me slip away,This duty is so hard, it hurts me so,My being strains in agony to pray,Sweat as cold as death begins to flow
Now […]

Wait for Godto respond.He hears.He turns toward His crying child.He reaches down into your clay criband brings you up, high,high,into His bosom.He sets you on His shoulder.He jostles you on His knee.And when you're comforted and quiet,He holds you closelyand teaches you to speak,to pray.
Look for Mary Harwell Sayler's article in Touched by Grace, February 21 […]

God offers a veritable feast from the table of His Word this Sunday. He provides the opportunity to be nourished with our prayerful reflection upon the beatitudes as recounted in St. Luke's Gospel. It is not possible in this reflection to describe each course in this sumptuous meal, so I will address the first course, […]

Your house has lost its roof — That which you thought had covered youHas been lifted off
How do you like tonight?The night's dark sky and rising Sirius,His bright blue eye, his bite
You thought you'd fix the sanctum of the walls,The sanctuary of a homeBut you were homeless after all
The ancient Hebrew keepers of JerusalemWho thought […]