As a way of continuing the theme of "living the questions we are," and entering more fully into this first week of Lent, I wanted to share a poem from the book I recommended in my last post. We learn in Lent to pose the question we are more and more profoundly as we seek more consciously, and prepare ourselves to truly hear the "answer" God is. That answer comes to us in fullness and is exhaustively revealed with Jesus' death and resurrection. For now, though, we continue to fast, pray, and find ways to give alms as we explore more and more deeply the questions we are and the really deep needs and seeking that drive us in this life. I hope this poem helps with that exploration.
Homesick
by
Carol Ann Duffy
When we love, when we tell ourselves we do,
we are pining for first love, somewhen,
before we thought of wanting it. When we rearrange
the rooms we end up living in, we are looking
for first light, the arrangement of light,
that time, before we knew to call it light.
Or talk of music, when we say we cannot talk of it, but play again
C major, A flat minor, we are straining
for first sound, what we heard once,
then, in lost chords, wordless languages.
What country do we come from? This one?
The one where the sun burns
when we have night? The one
the moon chills; elsewhere, possible?
Why is our love imperfect,
music only echo itself,
the light wrong?
We scratch in the dust with sticks,
dying of homesickness
for when, where, what.
in the heart's time by Janet Morley
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