Examen on a Sunday in the Fall

Lord, like you, I am sweeping leaves,

as the trees eschew their fingers,

and turn their heads on part of themselves.

I looked and saw too many leaves

from too many long winters

heaped up on top of each other,

becoming the worm-infested mulch

of a wayward heart.

But, Lord, you also created worms.

They loosen what would otherwise

pack itself down into a deadening tightness,

choking out what life is yet to come.

You seem to prefer it this way, Lord.

New stuff grows from old,

good from bad,

fresh from foul.

So be it.

Examen on a Saturday evening

banquet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it is to be, latent but translucent

that weavings and partings both,

secured in their places best suited

to their emergence or demise,

are laid out on God’s table of cards.

The goodbyes of days that turn to nights

that turn to days that turn to timeless

wonders, the crevices where only God’s

fingers fit. They’re too small for me

because I’m too big in me to see

my own smallness in him.

Wreck all chances for shoddy self-repair

and lay the table for a banquet instead,

where bread on my tongue and

the clinking glasses serve to remind me

of a better meal yet to come.

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