Hat-less

Festival of Faith and Writing: Hats mush my hair, so I don't wear them. Still, I am envious of people who do..for example: the panache of the woman in the purple velvet beret

I sat and watched hats
Move through
The space
The purple velvet
Beret.
The cowboy hat.
I wondered
What each one wrote
Or read.
I drank coffee
Hat-less.
If I wore a hat
What would it say.
To that purple velvet
Beret?

Green voices

Dark voices, pale voices, tree buds.

The green pokes through
The surface.
Its voices
Will not be heard
In full
Until later.
I hear whispers
Dark voices
Pale voices
Tree buds.

When green arrives

I continue to figure things out

When green arrives
Is she envy
Or perhaps the color
Of spring
A sign of growth?
When green arrives
Does she wear black
Or find the forsythia
In the hedge
Out back?
When green arrives
Which comes first?
Which comes next?
Does she know
How to hold both
Together?
When green arrives.
How does she know?
Is it time
For mud
Or pussy willows?

A few flakes

The ducks know.

Yesterday brought
A few flakes of snow
No accumulation.
The duck lady
Out back
Was already
In her garage
Where the corn
Is stored
The ducks flew in.
They know
When the table
Will be set,
The food
Served.

Advice

Advice is often unwelcome

I am eight years
Into life
With seizures.
I do not drive.
Do you know
He says
This man
Had a seizure 
Yesterday 
And cannot drive?
Maybe you could
Talk with him?
Of course it depends
On him.
Advice is often
Unwelcome.

I thirst

The meditation I did not give. Still, I thirst. It is Easter and I am grateful.

"I thirst" said Jesus, as he hung on the cross. One of many things he said. One very human thing he said as he hung on the cross.

We all know thirst.

We remember his conversation with the woman at the well when he told her everything she had ever done, and offered her Living Water.

We remember those same words to each one of us:

When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat.

When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.

Water plays a huge role in our life of Faith. Baptism, of course. Living Water, of course.

I thirst said Jesus , as he hung on the cross.

When I was thirsty you gave me something to drink.

Years ago, when I graduated from college, I took a volunteer job, which required a group of us to apply for food stamps. We filled out the forms, then looked around the room and the large group of people who were clearly confused by the forms...rather like the .confusion which comes with filling out tax forms. As a group we stayed for the rest of the day and helped people fill out food stamp forms. 

When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat

When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.

When I was confused, you helped me fill out food stamp forms.

Oh there so many ways to hear Jesus, not just His Seven Words from the Cross.

I thirst. I was hungry and you fed me.

I was naked, and you clothed me.

I was sick and in prison and you cared for me.

So many ways to hear Jesus on the Cross

Early robins

Early robins are a signal of persistence. Perhaps this is why I like them so much.

Robins are seen
As common birds
Still
They are a sign
Of spring
As much as forsythia
As much
As pussy willows.
This year I watch them
Listen for worms
Listen
And fail to find them
Yet.
Perhaps they came back
Too early
I will continue
To watch
Any minute now
Worms will surface
Robins will then know
It is time
To nest.