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POETRY
Shutting Up for Jesus
(30th Sunday, Ordinary Time)
Bartimaeus would not Be silenced When the
disciples And others demanded He be suppressed For he knew What
many leaders Had forgotten That it is forced silence That kills the
spirit Not sound Even the noisy kind * * * For if we really
Paid attention to Our history We would discover That it has always
been Too much obedience Rather than protest Or demands or Even
disobedience That has caused Most of our pain * * * But over the
years Again and again Some leaders Demand quiet Weakened
minds Costing us dearly In loyalty and faith So much so That one
wonders When it is they Who want silence Why we let them claim God
does too As if there were Still another beatitude Revealing
blessedness To anyone Who shuts up for Jesus
-- Fr. Michael J. Kennedy Cedar Creek, Minn.
Cricket Concert
with a smug smile of satisfaction I slap the
lid on the mayonnaise jar bound out the door with my captive and
dump him unceremoniously into the marigolds where he can join his
cricket cronies to fiddle the night away and I can get some sleep at
last
-- Cecilia Slusser Logansport, Ind.
Nazareth
All the long sunlit afternoon, Working in his
fathers shop, The carpenters young son Dreamed of going to
Jerusalem, Of life in all its fullness. Did he divine a terrible
travail In the banging, banging, banging, All the long sunlit
afternoon, Of hammer on nail, hammer on nail?
-- Joseph Awad Richmond, Va.
Two Dark Eyes
(Jerusalem 1995)
Two dark eyes were piercing right and left at the
corner of our stone wall. One could hardly notice the face and nose and
mouth and body because of the Two dark eyes intensely searching right and
left, around the stony corner.
They were searching the trees and
shrubbery, for other eyes looking back, Eyes above arms carrying arms,
for keeping the youth from his daily destination, Keeping him from his
place of work, from supporting his family.
It doesnt seem right
to have to evade the rifle To make a living, for feeding your children,
by Building homes for the ones who hold the rifles. Those eyes have
seared their presence into my memory, That early morning ritual, never to be
forgotten, Those two dark eyes wildly piercing right and left at the
corner of our stone wall.
-- Fr. William C. Casey Greenville, Tenn.
Advent
When planting time is over when the harvest has been
stored when the fields are covered with the frozen stubble God the
seed is planted --
When the aroma of spring is long gone when the
flowers of summer have lost their bright petals when all growing
things have been pruned God the rose begins to grow
When the
delicate egg shells of new life lie scattered on the ground when the
fledglings have all learned to fly when the proud parents have all flown
south God the feathered wing hovers over frozen snow --
-- John Jackson Maitland, Fla.
Rebekahs Crucifixion Between Her
Sons
And the opposites in her nature split into twins and
fought in her womb.
Esau become her nostalgia for safety, Jacob her
hunger for the unknown; God predicted they would always be at
odds.
Esau, more like his father or the girl shed been before
her impetuous yes when the patriarchs steward slipped two gold
bracelets on her wrist and led her on the back of a camel from
everything familiar.
Jacob, more like his grandfather Abraham,
who would kill his own son if God demanded it, or like his mother who
connived with him against her husband to steal his twins
birthright.
Rebekah was afraid, wished life could be simpler, as
before they were claimed by Abrahams God and the holocaust of love He
expected. Shed once loved Isaac like that, thrilled when she first
saw him in the wilderness,
but he would love her for the comfort she
gave him as he loved Esau for the game he shot for his favorite
stew.
-- Karen Zealand La Vale, Md.
1999 in POETRY
2000 in POETRY
Poems should be limited to about 50 lines and preferably typed.
Please send poems to NCR POETRY, 115 E. Armour Blvd., Kansas City MO
64111-1203. Or via e-mail to poetry@natcath.org or fax (816)
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please include your Social Security number.
National Catholic Reporter, December 15,
2000
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