SingingFrogPress

the messengers sing

when you called out to us
though we were sleeping
on our sides, our ears pressed
against the lower veils
of the sky

we heard what you
did not want us to hear—
the scrape of your heel
against dry earth—
your fugitive footsteps

hiding from what
you fear most
remember—all endings
are beginnings
along the way

no one can
continue forever
you must welcome
this abundance
of loss
                        1/18/2005

4 comments

  1. I am on the same page as this poem. I’ve been reading the next most important book in my life, From Age-ing to Sag-ing, A Profound New Vision of Growing Older, by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller. I am on the chapter “The Art of Life Completion.” The more I read, the better it gets! I missed you yesterday at the Peace Vigil. I preached & presided at Mass in Cobleskill both on Saturday and Sunday and I needed all my physical & emotional resources to do it.
    Brother Peter

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    • Thank you Brother Peter. I’m glad this poem speaks to you. I’m finding as I reflect on and tinker with these Messenger poems (all written in late 2004 to 2005) so I can post them now, that I feel like they are speaking to me now, perhaps more clearly than when I wrote them. I love Reb Schacheter-Shalomi’s work on aging and saging. I hope your Masses in Cobleskill went as you hoped they would, and that you can now enjoy a well-earned rest. Peace & Love, Sue

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  2. thanks Sara. As I’m revisiting and tweaking these Messenger Poems as I select the next one to post, I realize they’re speaking to me about current events as much as they must have been back when I wrote them 18 years ago. Everything is change, and everything stays the same. How I struggle to hold them together! 💞

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