Our Lady of...

It's been a rough summer for a lot of people, myself included. We've got three very damaged patients in our unit; their rooms all in a row; men in their 50's who have fallen from fixing their roof, from cutting limbs off a tree, and from working on his plane. Two of my best friends' husbands have left their marriages with more unsaid than said, and don't get me wrong, these are nice guys. Good husbands and dads and friends. Friends' parents are falling ill and their children getting injured. My neighbor, mother of a 7yr old girl, was diagnosed with cancer.

As I passed through the Mexican section at Krogers a few weeks ago I noticed the display of religious candles, so I brought an Our Lady of Guadelupe to help turn things around. Now I'm up to four Our Ladies for more firepower. Burn it up, girls.



Acrobat's Song


by Liam Rector

Who is it for whom we now perform,

Cavorting on wire:

For whom does the boy

Climbing the ladder

Balance and whirl—

For whom,

Seen or unseen

In a shield of light?



Seen or unseen

In a shield of light,

At the tent top

Where rays stream in

Watching the pin-wheel

Turns of the players

Dancing

In light:



Lady,

We are Thy acrobats;

Jugglers;

Tumblers;

Walking on wire,

Dancing on air,

Swinging on the high trapeze:

We are Thy children,

Flying in the air

Of that smile:

Rejoicing in light.



Lady,

We perform before Thee,

Walking a joyous discipline,

A thin thread of courage,

A slim high wire of dependence

Over abysses.



What do we know

Of the way of our walking?

Only this step,

This movement,

Gone as we name it.

Here

At the thin

Rim of the world

We turn for Our Lady,

Who holds us lightly:

We leave the wire,

Leave the line,

Vanish

Into light.