January 18, 2008

My Journey to God

Peace (Genesis 8)

Gentle Dove of mauve-feathered breast,
Freed from the ark, come back—come back—
Return to rest. Bear in your beak,
Green bark—earth’s twisted olive twigs.
Come Dove of hope with wing-tips, pearled,
To build your fragile nest of peace
In the bold branches of our world.

Isaihan Spring

Season of hope
Where is the peace
For which He died
And rose?
That city of peace
Where freedom flows
Along the way
of clear, unturbid brooks?

Where is the nation
That exchanged its swords
And hammered its spears
Into pruning hooks?

When will we plough-share
Brute barricades
That stubble
The fortressed hills?
And build up our
Walls of division
With rows of daffodils?

There Is a Peace

There is a peace
Aloft,
Beyond the spacious
Bounds of space, where bird has
Never flown.
It is to that
Beyondness
That he
Summons us
In fearing fearlessness
And we must
Go
Alone!

By Sister Joseph McKenzie, O.C.D

(Discalced Carmelite Sister Joseph McKenzie, a member of the Monastery of St. Joseph in Terre Haute, died on July 12, 2007. Her Carmelite sisters submitted her poems about peace in her memory.) †

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