Gentle Rain
She is found
bathed in the slow
and gracious radiance
of fading silver light
from a newly formed star.
Swift reflections beckon,
“How can all this be?”
Impishly,
shepherds approach.
They do not squelch
the echo of angelic song.
Faint music rides the chilly air.
A feeding troth,
occupied by the Infant,
is surrounded
in quiet awe.
Will those in wonder
keep the gentle rain
from this Newly Born?
+
Past Sins
In this life
even the geraniums fade
but painful recollections
remain.
Night terrors from youth,
the sins of my past,
you are a hideous shadow
behind me.
Like a burglar at night
you startle.
Uncivilized and disjointed memories,
you have come to taunt me.
As a rabbit screams in its death
you too shout sudden terror.
Your sting is more painful
than any stab,
your jab more injurious
than any combatant’s.
Distorter of tranquility,
I limp vainly because of you
attempting to restore
my peace.
Raucously
you rain upon me.
You find my weaknesses
and unrelentingly
you pound away.
Still I cannot let the past
control my present.
Until mild dreamy shadows
return
I will fight these tragic memories
and win.
By faith I know
that even saints
have had their regrets.
+
Prayer to Christ, the Truth
Truth, Truth,
may all pursue You
until you lead us
to Yourself.
So hidden are You,
O Truth,
that unless we love You
we cannot find You.
We can know of You
by reason
but most importantly
by our heart.
Gently melt me
in my chase of You.
Help me to rise
above myself.
I will still be beneath
You!
Fill me totally
O Infinite Truth,
for by truth,
in mercy,
You have revealed
Yourself.
+
Elusive Gift
They look for Love
Who cannot be found.
Their pleas no longer
change their path.
Free will binds Him
to His Justice.
In their suffering
the wickedness of their spirit
and the dread of their decisions
have left their mark.
In life, they fought
with Satan’s shadow
and by succumbing
to evil
they are defeated.
It is a melancholy truth
that not all choose
to see their Savior.
While life is still with us
we must chase after
this elusive Gift.
+
A Solemn Consideration
(An Atheist Begins to Pray))
It is evolved out of deception
and that is why I reject
all religion.
Sprung from unexamined
darkness,
I am above it all.
But in the desert
of my indecision
I have found fear.
True, I have no great faith in fools
and their causes.
They think that by superficialities
that they possess a god.
These gullible souls manifest
a meaningless piety.
There is no eloquence
in their enthusiasm.
It bores me.
I want no part of it.
Maker of it all, if You be at all,
Tell the wind and fire to cease
but You may take Your leave
of me.
My interests have brought me
my own understanding.
When it was my summer,
I had no need of
your ‘consolation’.
Perhaps because it is winter
I will seek Your supposed warmth.
Each human being is a mystery
and I do not desire another.
I have my own thoughts
and wish not to be party to a lie.
Are not lies unworthy
of a thinking mind?
A solemn consideration it is
to share my universe
with this ‘other’,
to give my trust
to this their only god.
I will not give my life
to that which I cannot see.
I can not believe
when there is so much
suffering.
Whatever I have achieved
I have accomplished alone.
But my cancer grows.
When will death
be at my door?
In barren solitude
do I begin to think
that even the wind speaks?
I listen.
Could this be the voice
heard by Elijah?
Maker of it all,
if You be at all,
I wish for You to hear me.
Help my unbelief.
+
Only for You
I will catch a light
from any spot of darkness.
by You,
my heart's delight.
A tender nature
is all You ever want.
Cheerful yet slow
I will change
my disagreeable whimpering
without a hint.
No one shall know.
I will become
that rare sort of person
who lives
only for You.
+
A Father Councils his Son
(before his son’s wedding)
My son,
whatever you do in life,
do it in earnest.
Forge bonds of friendship
that wear well.
Devote yourself completely
to love
and Love will never
desert you.
The truest Wisdom will come
from the heart which truly loves.
+
Nothing is Sacred (Satan Speaks)
I offer no consolation
in His crucified exhaustion.
The Creator’s hope is futile.
Has He sent forth His Child
as a sacrificial lamb?
But I shall conquer His
Anointed!
I will send forth His followers
to search in the allure
of the imperfect.
I am the being who is
fiercely corrosive in my attack.
I will destroy.
By vengeful ambition
I have wounded Love.
I have shattered
the heart of God
by slaying His Beloved.
The bonds of space and time
do not bind me.
They are beneath me.
I will shall now seek to destroy
their families
starting in the womb.
Nothing is sacred to me.
+
Young Loves’ Dreams (for Mr.and Mrs. Francheschino)
What will their future hold?
Fresh and joyous
is their intensity.
How can they be called
naïve?
Those who have been
less fortunate
would give up everything
to find what these two souls
have found.
Is there a greater delight
than young love?
In age’s recollection
they will not let bitterness
become their prison.
They need only to remember
there’s nothing so sweet
as their young loves’
dreams.
+
The Invitation
Blush in pride
for I have called you
as My Beloved.
I shall deliver you
from your age-old
sadden state.
Libel not
your present existence
for I have placed you in it.
I delight in you.
I give you a title,
‘holy one’,
and a wreath of victory
for your humility.
Humanity has made for itself
a distorted existence.
Come to Me.
Never lose heart.
As you suffer,
salvation and healing
will come again to the world.
Be a co-redeemer
with my Son.
+
Satan Waits (Lenten Meditation)
Softly an ancient instrument
plays.
Has it not yet found
its proper key?
I have no love of music
unless it’s discordant.
I have no love of songs
unless they be my own.
Their Anointed one smells;
the stench of leper’s decay
remains upon Him.
What causes this people’s attraction?
They disgust me
in their endless parade
of hope.
Charcoal fires scent the evening air.
Springtime brings new life
burrowing through rocky soil.
Morning mist parts before Him
as He slips silently away
for prayer.
I will wait for the perfect time
to strike Him by my deadly
imperfection.
I will make of Him
a festering sore
which will not heal.
My words to the masses
will confuse their very being.
His hideous pain will then
bring me laughter.
No lithe promises will I make
with my gloating illusions.
Endlessly I will attack
this Prince of Peace.
+
Hope for a Fallen Birch
(for a young person with a broken heart)
Where I have opened my heart
should I now close it?
I am not a crestfallen rogue
seeking revenge.
Even a receding love
deserves a proper epitaph.
You were ingeniously serene
as I stumbled.
Unforgiving, you smirked
seeing I was green
to a path of pain.
Nightmares leapt at me
as I suffered
but you were laughingly coy
in the corrupted light
of night’s vision.
Like a fallen birch
brought down low
by wind and rain,
I stretched upward
for strength
only from heaven.
Through my loneliness I have found
the only true source of love
is God.
+
On Gossip (Coldly Civilized)
Nervously frowning she quarrels
at the least possible offense.
She is satisfyingly numb
to the offended raging swirl
that she has hurt.
Drifting, leaning
she hardens faces
making them
bitterly fierce.
Idiotic smiles surround her
as their dreaming energy
waits to explode.
As she leaves the room,
they are coldly civilized,
never exploring the depths
of sanctity by silence.
How many opportunities
do we let flee
by speaking our anger
instead of being kind?
We have allowed the irritable
to harden us
instead of giving us
ways of redemption.
Yet little sufferings can bring
transformation
to an unrepentant world!
We choose instead to be coldly civilized
rather than share the warmth
which comes from the heart of God.
+
Colors (A Prayer for Artists)
An actress recollects a part lost,
poorly cast to another.
Jealously looms and the critics
relentlessly descend
as she persists
at her craft.
A writer is rejected
yet steadfastly creates
another story
which may never be
published.
Rapacious cynics,
greedy in their evaluations
of what one’s work is worth
will discourage
but not persuade.
A person must do
what a person
is born to do.
There is always a loneliness
in the pursuit of art.
In life there are goals
not of one's making,
tasks that must be achieved.
As to the reason.
we are meant to be artists
used by the Master.
We are all colors
waiting to be applied
by the Hand of the Divine.
Destiny has given us
a role for the taking
and we must play it well
if Eternal designs
are to be fulfilled.
+
Sweet Wonder
Unfolding gently
below His loving caresses,
He reveals Himself.
How right it is
to love Him!
His Spirit touches giving life.
Perception awakens
unveiling Subtle magnificence.
Each moment of existence
is meant to be
a sweet wonder in Him.
+
At the Center of Time
The moon emanates
Eternity's sorrow.
The night bows
in exquisite recognition.
His Betrayer draws near.
Judas,
why do you betray Him
with a kiss?
Disloyal friends,
His own people,
do not know Him.
And in the afternoon
He calls forth
His unsparing abandonment.
The sun radiates
its dehydrating form
of capital punishment.
Spikes attach Him
to a tree’s frame.
Alone
in the intensity of His Pain
He experiences three hours
of suffocation
then death.
His skin is matted by dried blood.
Hanging
isolated
for all the world
to see.
He is
Lifeless, yet Life itself,
A paradox
and the Lover most giving.
He has surrendered totally
at the center of time.
+
When Nero would be God
An attentive lion
spots its meal
while grimly waiting
to be satisfied.
Insatiable in its hunger,
predatory by its nature,
it pounces on its victim,
ripping and tearing
at the body,
fighting for its food
among its brood.
Ancient Rome once had a culture,
but now it has fallen to primeval ways
without knowing it.
A Christian is wrongfully slain
but a fatherless boy
finds a home.
An early martyr
passes his protection
from heaven to his son
by prayer.
Saints will rise
to the occasion
to be this child's
parents.
Then as now
saints were not afraid
to die for their faith.
They know
for whom it is
they give their life.
Such were the ways of Rome
when Nero would be god.
+
Excavation (for the Daraz sisters)
Friendships sometimes fail
in temperamental moments.
Here, where time is buried in the sand
the nagging question is,
"what will all this digging bring?"
An Egyptian child dances
while an archeologist sighs.
Moments such as these
are not like the morning doves,
for even though they somehow fly,
their flight usually ends
in sorrow.
But now wonder comes
in this desert's delight.
The excavation stops.
Egypt reveals
her ancient beliefs.
+
August Days
It is the end of summer.
There is reflective anguish
whenever a wanderer’s yearnings
are gone.
Still, when tomorrow comes
the water’s froth will fiddle
with early morning’s sun
balancing light and shadow
in the waves.
Intense heat won’t stop
the water from quivering.
Sand will still show
wet footprints
on the beach.
Perhaps the hot weather
will give way to wind
and then to the rain.
But for now I will watch
for the last finite moments
of this sweltering day.
I’ll see the sun’s radiance
fade into amber hues.
I’ll wait for the moonlight
and search for the fog’s
mystical appearance
over the Atlantic.
Then I will be comforted.
for You are near.
Only You, my Love,
are the perfect end
for an August day.
+
For Robert Palladino
You enjoyed the ripest
of first fruits of life
even though you didn’t know
how quickly it would end.
Too early did you greet
Your heavenly Father,
my friend.
In a sometime now past
a richly clad ruler
observed more heaven
than earth in Jesus.
He was intimidated.
Is that what I witnessed
in you, Bob,
more heaven than earth?
I miss seeing you.
I miss your friendship.
Pray for me.
+
Prayer to the Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart,
speak again of Your cross.
Come, speak heart-to-heart.
All great and noble
adventures
mean nothing without
Your Heart’s speech,
without the interaction
of Your Love.
In life’s darkest hour
You are my Someone
waiting for me.
Make my cross Your own.
Transform my suffering
into Yours.
Take the little that I have.
I give it to You.
Always take my heart
Make it Your own.
+
Love at First Glance
Skinny,
I barely noticed him
across the darkened gym.
My friends and I spoke
between inquisitive laughter.
"What is his name?"
"Where does he go to school?"
"Why is he looking at me?"
Then he came near.
I later asked my mom about
this boy.
She smiled and quoted
an Englishman
who must have known
how this young boy felt.
Chesterton wrote,
“that anything worth doing well
is worth doing badly”.
Our first dance was terrible,
but still I smiled.
And now I smile again
as I watch that boy,
my husband,
while he and our son
play ball together
in the spring grass.
Did mom believe
that inside of every man,
there is still a young boy?
+
War
Snows cleanse perfectly
as injured men die at war
while maids pray for peace.
+
Good Friday
In this silent night
the Spotless Pearl of great price
crowns eternity.
With hymns greeting Him,
Satan's goal now vanquished,
His accuser shrieks.
Easter victory!
No longer must men fear death.
Jesus has brought life!
Spiritual Commitment
In my soul I want
all my love to be perfect
to receive Your crown.
To become my best
I surrender all my life
to the only God.
+
Saint Patty’s Day
The laughter is loud
when gentle souls seek pleasure
in old Irish pubs.
+
Marital Bliss
The best of husbands
Always listens to his wife
As his other self.
+
Joseph’s Laugh
Sweet, helpless, supple,
the tender Infant awakes
His Blessed Mother.
Whispering, I smile,
arising in the sun’s dawn
while she too rises.
Not sad, not willful,
this Child came to earth with joy
for us and His world.
Curious welcome;
shepherds greeting the angels.
Enchanted, I laugh.
+
Meditation on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 1
From beauty we wish
a life which will extend us.
Yet time robs beauty.
A child takes our life
but gives mankind more splendor
than we have alone.
Where great wealth doth lie
there is never a famine;
choose to create life.
Your foe is yourself
when you never want children.
Your gifts die with you.
Be the sign of spring
and never slow to give birth.
New life brings real joy!
+
Grandmom
Into each category
that you failed
you found humor.
You never stop trying
to live.
Disillusioned families
often watched your
steps.
Your failing recovery
did not make you a failure
to hope.
Physically vanquished,
yet at peace,
you made it through life
by great suffering.
You never soured
in your pains.
While Wall Street lions
looked for more
to placate their hunger
you hungered
for the More
to satisfy your soul.
Grandmom,
pray your rosaries
for your family in eternity
to gracefully guide us
to our home.
+
On Humility
You do not instruct
the orbs of the universe.
Give your plans to Christ.
The blinding madness
of your unholy passions
yield only chaos.
You think too little,
or perhaps you think too much
when you are alone.
He was born to die
but you have been born to live.
Find your peace in Him.
Return to your knees
when others turn to possessions.
Always seek Him and pray.
Pride unchecked will ruin
even the greatest of the saints.
The humble will reign!
+
In Gratitude for Holy Matrimony
Peering over pews
men and women
catch a glance
as the bride
approaches.
Their tender longing
is an aching
for union in love.
In this sacrament,
if a couple has faith,
there is no offense
which love cannot
heal.
Now smiling,
they see in themselves
the beauty of Christ
within.
O beloved, Sacred Sacrament,
our human limitations
are transformed
and made holy
in you!
+
Final Twilight: A Prayer for Robert Frost
(based on Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost)
Whose world this is I’ve come to know.
His home is in the heaven’s, though:
He will still see me stopping here
To watch the way I’ve come to grow.
A child-like soul must see it clear
To stop without a reason near
Between the dark and fading light
This final twilight of the year.
I kneel and summon my mind awake
To ask the Lord to please partake
These feelings other than the sound
Of tired words for Robert’s sake.
His words were “lovely, dark, and deep”,
But Frost had “promises to keep”,
Yet now he’s home “before I sleep”
Yet now he’s home “before I sleep”.
+
Pleasantly She Rises
In Autumn, the river,
Readily and rapidly,
Offers its cold foamy drink.
Where elms drift in wind
And horses humbly quench their thirst
She drifts off to sleep.
Pleasantly she rises
As she leaves the water’s banks
Having found her peace.
+
Poem for a Quaker
(for Skip Sumptner)
Young troops hide their tears,
sniffling in the predawn air.
Beneath camouflaged garb
their dog tags hang.
Gruesomely they are
attired.
Where swift shelter hides
they will lay,
descending then falling
out of sight.
Implacably,
the soldiers wait
at the road’s end
while their enemy sleeps.
Afraid but prepared
they unleash their trained
rage.
Zealous and purposeful
in their task,
they fire.
Guns blare into the night.
Their foes are an easy prey.
The sleeping will be left
lifeless.
Poltergeists are rumored
to litter the fields.
They are specters
in the distance of unrest.
Other men will soon come
to carry their brothers
home.
But a woman will no longer have
a husband.
A sister will no longer have
a brother.
Parents will no longer have
their children.
And young children
will never know
their father.
Even the most just war
is never truly just.
+
Midday Prayer for Strength
You must find yourself
midway upon the journey
while His path is near.
My way is lost now
yet finding Him close at hand
I fight the good fight.
Upward I search.
I see my Lord in my soul
but still He is veiled.
Vested with the Light
my weary body will rest
when my soul is fed.
I quiet my fear.
Still He has pity on me
and I embrace Hope.
+
Meditation on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116
Seek not to alter
or dispense the mystery
of love in your life.
The marriage of truth,
unbound by impediments
must never seek change.
Storms will never shake
the peace of stability
when love is found true.
Time will seek the fool
but within God’s Providence
there are no wise fools.
+
Another Prayer to the Sacred Heart
Heart of my Savior, Savior’s Heart
stirring both memory and desire,
be for me always an open gate
and enter into my soul.
Martyrs have come this way,
lilacs out of death,
readying themselves
for their King.
Angelic orchestras
which tug at me are here.
I have heard them silently by faith.
They are the loyal winds
interceding as I kneel.
Heart of my Savior, Savior’s Heart
stirring both my memory and desire,
be for me always an open gate
and enter into my soul.
+
A Moment in the Glass
Passionless
unrepentant soul,
what did the rain say?
Did it cleanse you
from your past?
Sins are like the broken nails
of my failing façade.
They do not keep me
from crumbling.
They do not hold me
together.
Streams
should be my tears.
I will turn to contemplate
this moment in the glass.
and try to remember
who I really am.
+
No Escape (Samuel, Saul and the Witch of Endor)
Shrewd woman
fooled by his masquerade
still you made your king
promise you safety.
Brightly believing
you gave into his wish
only then to discover
his identity.
An adoring prophet and judge,
and a witch,
are led in a chase
of a depressed king,
sickened by sin.
Samuel rises from the place
of the dead.
Interrupting then erupting
in truth,
he spares nothing.
Fear meanders,
to each player.
when the closeness of death
is made known.
Time stops.
There is no escaping the living God.
+
Simple Truth
Sound,
formerly inseparable
from normal sound,
now dazzles the early morn.
Satan’s Nightmare
does not scream
but soars,
Resurrected!
The Paschal Lamb
unshackles
life from death.
+
Armageddon Shadows
Magnificent vapors,
you are rolling and dark
like many earthly things.
Armageddon shadows,
you seem destined
for change.
In the sunset
you are almost like magma
suspended high above the earth.
In some ways I am like you,
turbulent and twisted
saved by reasons
I don’t understand.
Come downward.
Drench me.
I will rejoice in your rain.
+
Butterfly
The fragile chrysalis
hangs above
in silent instruction.
The amused adventurer
striving for freedom
gently swings
from tree’s limb.
Butterfly, you will scold me
with Your gladness!
Sing me your silent song!
I have a lifetime to learn
your harmonies
and a heart to know
your tunes.
+
On Corrupt Politicians
Insulting the eyes with images
that should never be seen
and injuring the ears
with words
that should never be heard,
you take a place in the world
deserved by few.
Egregious flaws and
irreverent behavior
become your calling card.
You internally disrespect
anything held sacred.
You value little
but how you are perceived.
Your essence is at war
because you have not cared
for the least of His children.
Here is where His resemblance
in you ends.
You have not done your part.
You have committed the crime
of assuring others
that they are their own gods
and you are their leaders.
You are blind to real need.
When the Master returns
will He be taking you
with Him?
+
Rosemary
A forlorn soul comes by today
She won’t go very far
And in her stroll, upon her way
She wanders to a bar.
She’ll tell a story of lost love
And son gone off to war
She’ll drink until the lights be off
Then stagger to her door.
“My son’s left home to fight for me
And won’t be coming home.
He thought that glory was for him
In death he leaves me lone.
A lovely lass gave him her charm
But love escaped him well
Another man did take his place
And she did bid farewell”.
Rosemary, would you reconsider
When you have lost your way
The Lover and the Giver
Who brought you to this day?
Your life has made you lonely
Then made of you a recluse,
But Christ can be Love only
In Him you’ll find your use.
When joy be sorely depleted
And nothing be worthwhile
A life of Love is needed
To give your life its smile.
+
Prayer to See Jesus
Holding its beauty
The sea, lovely, brown yet fare
Reveals Your Splendor.
Maker of it all
You are all wonder to me.
Bring me to Your Home!
I shall in truth find
By your timeless gift of Self
All Love that is.
Mankind yearns for You
Without really knowing You
Or knowing itself.
Make of me Your slave
And by Your Beloved Hand.
Lead me to Your Son.
+
Broken Shells
The ocean beach
offers its spoils.
Broken shells pierce
my feet.
They are remnants
of a turbulent storm
and its path.
I wish this scattered world
would converse!
Come speak your heart to me
warm summer!
The seagulls give answer:
“Here is your peace!
The newness of it all
can never be complete”.
Bending their wings
to the wind
they offer joy-filled
shouts.
They continue saying,
“Come away, come away,
to a deserted place”.
They then retreat.
Do even the birds know
not to be distracted
by brokenness?
+
August Moon
Gray beams upon my path,
a mist covers you tonight.
Through golden gauze shroud
you appear without a sound.
Layers of clouds
support you in your stay.
Singular celestial body,
twelve men have walked
upon your soil,
devoid of moisture
and air.
I must now walk beneath you.
Like you
I will have no companions
on this hot summer night
as I travel through my allotted time
in space.
Like you I too must give light
to a darkened world.
August moon,
lead me
in my way of seeing
through the dark.
I want to give His Light
for all the world to see.
True