Thursday, October 25, 2007

Leavetaking



Nearing the start of that mysterious last season
Which brings us to the close of the other four
I'm somewhat afraid and I don't know how to prepare,
So I will praise you
I will praise you for the glaze on the buttercups
And the pearly scent of wild fresh water
And the great cross-bow shapes of swans flying over
With that strong silken sound of wings
Which you gave them when you made them without voices
And I will praise you for crickets
On starry autumn nights
When the earth is cooling
Their misty diminutive music
Repeated over and over
In the very marrow of peace.
And I will praise you for crows calling from the tree-tops
Which was the speech of my first village,
And for the sparrow's flash of song
Flinging to me in an instant
The joy of a child who woke
Each morning to the freedom
Of her mother's unclouded love
And lived in it like a country.
And I praise you that from vacant lots
from only broken glass and candy wrappers
you raise up the blue chicory flowers.
Thank you for that secret praise
Which burns in every creature
And I ask you to bring us to life
Out of every sort of death
And teach us mercy.
--Anne Porter

6 comments:

Cathy said...

Prayers for all of you who are thinking about what's next for you. I ask your prayers for me as I ponder the same question. I'll deliver my application for the part-time Master of Arts program at the little seminary in the big city on Thursday, wondering if I'm applying for the right Masters degree, wondering how I'm going to do this at all ...

Tammy Gray said...

Prayers are with you widening circles.

Dr. Laura Marie Grimes said...

Second that...

RevHRod said...

Dear friends-

My youngest sister has sent out a prayer request and I thought of you. It will give her great comfort to know that we are with her in prayer.

Thanks!

My sib writes, "My friend Karen, who has been living with cancer for about five years, is being released from Mayo tomorrow and sent home to be in hospice care. Her spirit is unshakable although the prognosis is really lousy. On her website, she has listed these prayer requests. Please include her in your prayers and the prayers of your congregations.

She is 42, the mother of three boys, and she is a woman of faith. Hard core faith. I will probably be heading out to their farm next week to help out with stuff. In addition to the cancer, which apparently has spread really fast over the past couple of weeks, she has shingles, so she's in a lot of pain. I pray for peace for Karen.

Prayer Requests:
For fluid in lung to not re-accumulate.
For pain management.
For the miraculous healing of my bladder, by having the tumor shrivel up and die.
For the lymphemdema to leave my body through my lymph system.
For a sense of peace for Bert, Frank, Noah, and Lance.

Unknown said...

I'm somewhat afraid and I don't know how to prepare,
So I will praise you


Talk about the right words, the right poem, the right prayer at the right time. Amen.

Jennifer Garrison Brownell said...

this is the right kind of prayer to read on a day when you need prayers because you are needing and expecting way too much from the people around you, instead of remembering "ALL things through One who strengthens me...."