By Kindly Light (WC)

(a previously written poem, revisited January 24, 2021, feast day of Our Lady of Damascus, Our Lady of Tears, Saint Francis de Sales (above), Blessed Paula Gambara Costa, Saint Xenia of Rome, and Blessed Xenia of St Petersburg.)

By Kindly Light

(through the Hours)

Lead, Kindly Light…

Keep Thou my feet;

I do not ask to see the distant scene;

one step enough for me.

–Saint John Henry Newman

1. Lauds (morning prayer)

They say voices shape a place.

His voice carries in the morning.

No matter the sleepless night or

frantic dream, voice of prayer

now. Anchor. He's 

at the benediction:*

We thank you, O Lord,

for bringing us to this day in safety.

Take us by the hand today on Your Good Red Road.

Help us to treat this day with reverence and holiness.

And bless us, O Lord, through the prayers of

Your Saints. Amen.

2. Vespers (evening prayer)

Voice inside now, sun's waning. Day's

mulling. The waters have smoothed a 

stone. What was it he said? 

Saint Francis de Sales. Something about the 

between. God's everywhere. Yet simpler, vaster. 

So must look between. He is both our 

deepest longing and hard reality. But He'll

show you deeper, where they meet. Between.**

Where the medicine lies. Where didn't look.

Where regret’s a jagged

edge. For that road turned from, Yours.

Road so pure, so gentle, I thought they'd

never want me. And You Lord, so 

pure, so gentle, I thought could You

forgive me. But I'm asking. And for that 

road again too. If only,

O  Lord, would You

show me now?

3. Compline (night prayer)

His voice again, softer at night. Untier 

of knots. Evening prayer, he's

at the benediction now:

Lord, watch over us as we sleep.

May Your angels surround and protect us.

May we dream of Your Holiness, and

Of Your Holy Name.

And may we be allowed to reach

another day in safety, to praise

Your Holy Name. Amen.

4. Matins (prayer between night and morning)

Voice inside again.

They say you can pray without ceasing.

Even in sleep. 

I sleep but my heart

waketh.***

When the body waketh too, listens,

you can feel the lay of the land. It's the 

nature of the between. 

Between night and day regroup, repair. Where

the jagged edge, the jump, the scatter,

glare. There the stranger's voice. Pray for

me when stuck here. And I'll pray for

you. Because our only hope is the Shepard.

Know His voice but it gets buried. So to

spindle, to unravel. Where it last

quivered was it in a verse?

A kindness perhaps?

These small stones, must be in here

somewhere. To hold, to turn, over

and over. The ones for rebuilding the Wall.

The ones because they sing. And voices

they say shape a place. And the

place between, there

sounds can narrow

to a single note.

Deepest quiet, never silent.

And tomorrow, God willing, will

dawn another day.

Amen. 

*The Hours are an ancient tradition of praying throughout one’s day/night. The benedictions here, at Lauds and Compline, were prayed out loud by Joseph for us during the High Holidays some years ago. His benedictions are formed spontaneously, vary.

**See theme II (in the introduction) of Frances de Sales, Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction. Paulist Press, New Jersey, 1988. 

*** Song of Solomon (Canticles) 5:2

As the Star (JM)

  

(Joseph MacRae, January 7, 2021, feast day of Christmas in Old Calender Orthodox Church; and feast day (Synaxis) of Saint John the Baptist; Poem inspired by Abbey of the Arts' Epiphany retreat (Mark Burrows, Christine Valters Paintner). Image is The Adoration of the Magi Icon, from Orthodox Christian Supply)

As the Star

      With a star the Magi do journey;

      for our sake a young Child is born, 

      Who is pre-eternal God.

      --from Nativity Kontankion,

         Saint Romanos

As the Star of long ago

           illumined

      the Magi's path,

As Prophets foretold

they would find the

     Hope of the world,

     "The Newborn King",

     who would lighten

           the world,

So let my inner Star

illumine my soul.

Amen.

*The end verse can also be a kind of Jesus prayer/heart prayer, 

        Inner Star 

        illumine

my soul...

In Dialogue (WC, JM)

 

(Wendy Cabell and Joseph MacRae, October 24, 2020, feast day of Saint Anthony Mary Claret, patron Saint of weavers and publishers; feast day of "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Icon, above.) 

In Dialogue

1. Today's Menu

(imagined voice of God to man, 

in the spirit of Saint Euphrosynos)

Let us make an exchange,

you and I.

I'll give you Apples.

You give me pie.

*The monk Saint Euphrosynos (ninth century Palestine) was a quiet humble cook dismissed as a simpleton until a fellow monk discovered his great holiness, receiving from Saint Euphrosynos (via a dream) apples from Heaven. When the monk awoke the apples were right there beside him...and soon proved miracle working.   

2. Today's Prayer

(imagined voice of man to God, in the spirit of a 

dream phrase Joseph awoke with in 2010)

Troubles fill my hands

so I turn them upside down.

All falls now

into Your hands.

Amen. 

*From prompt: craft poems in imagined voice, from Jory Mickleson's Poetry and Prayer class (Monastery of Saint Gertrude, Cottonwood, Idaho), October 24, 2020.

Circle of the Leaf (JM)

 (Joseph MacRae, published in Writers at Play Presents: The Art of Letter Writing, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, 2023. From 1992.)

Circle of the Leaf

I toss these leaves upon the wind,

till shined upon by New Moon's spirit…

Winter snows melt,

as spring rains come.

Magic is being performed,

transforming the forests of sleepy brown,

to living green.

To give beauty and shade, in summer heat.

Then comes the Autumn,

The leaves now turn to red and gold.

Die and fall gently to the ground.

Soon to decay, and fade away.

Then will come the sleeping winter, 

with rain and snow.

The wind will blow.

But again new life awaits,

waiting beneath the blanket

of fallen leaves.

When Swans Return (JM)

 

(Joseph MacRae, published in Mindful Poetry Moments, fourth edition, edited by Stacey Simms and Eddie Gonzalez, The Well (in partnership with NPR's On Being Project), 2022. Also published in Writers at Play Presents: The Art of Letter Writing, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, 2023. A 1992 poem reworked for the above.)

When Swans Return 

(journal entry for 9-11, Salmon Creek, Alaska) 

As fire shakes the world 

a small wave ripples the water 

in this outback. As I tag the salmon, 

so far from the chaos, the boom. 

As fall returns to the North Land 

the tundra swans return 

to Salmon Lake. 

A rest on their long journey 

to the South Land. 

As they land upon the pristine waters 

gliding smoothly upon the shallows 

barely a wake to be seen. 

For this brief moment 

they are the Emperor and the Empress 

of Salmon Lake. 

Autumn Sunset (JM)

 (Joseph MacRae, published in Writers at Play Presents: The Art of Letter Writing, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, 2023. From 1992.)

Autumn Sunset

Sunset of orange and red

soon to set upon the West.

A pastel scene painted upon a 

changing sky.

Where clouds of grey mix with emerald light.

Now stained with gold, and trimmed in red.

Silhouette the mountains of purple haze,

and set the sea ablaze.

Soon comes the twilight, then the

night.

Memory of Carolina (JM)

 (Joseph MacRae, published in Writers at Play Presents: The Art of Letter Writing, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, 2023. From 1992.)

Memory of Carolina

Autumn in the Carolinas,

Blue Ridge Mountains standing silent,

leaves now turn from green to gold.

With frosty mornings sharp and cold.

Hazy days and starlit nights.

The orchards now bare,

the crops are in,

only the pumpkins left to pick.

Soon the leaves will cover the ground,

as fall rains come,

the creeks turn brown.

Fields are plowed,

and left to stand 

through winter storms, and gentle snows.

To waken in the distant Spring.