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Posts Tagged ‘forgiveness’

Like Forgiveness, Like Happiness

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 31, 2017| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

After the frost,

the sweet peas

rise from the dirt

like little green angels

with bowed heads

and tiny green wings—

 

it’s enough to make

a woman believe

small miracles can happen

if only she plants

the seed.

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Blessing the Weatherman’s Mistake

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on December 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

unforecast, this thawing of the heart, a puddle now where yesterday I slipped

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One Warm Discovery

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on February 6, 2016| 1 Comment »

 

 

 

that fence I built

around my heart

makes real good kindling

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Two Realizings

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on December 2, 2015| 1 Comment »

 

with gratitude to Rachel Kellum

 

 

holding out the olive branch,

surprised to see the end’s

been set on fire—

oh foolish woman who hesitates

to drop it before she is burned

 

*

 

olive tree,

may you grow many branches,

may I prune you often

but not to the point of risking the roots—

for now, here is water, time

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How it Might Happen

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on October 6, 2015| 4 Comments »

The baby black swift is born behind a waterfall.
It never leaves its nest until one autumn day
it leaves the damp familiar and starts to fly.

Though it has never flown before, it will not land
until it reaches Brazil, thousands of miles away.

There is, perhaps, a wing inside forgiveness.
Just because it has never flown before,
just because it’s never seen beyond the watery veil
does not mean that it won’t instantly learn
what it can do.

Like the baby black swift, it has no idea
what it’s flying toward. It only knows
that it must fly and not stop until it is time to stop.

It sounds so miraculous, so nearly impossible.

It is not a matter of courage. It is simply
what rises up to be done, the urge to follow
some inaudible call that says now, now.

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Which One to Try First?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 31, 2015| 2 Comments »

In the book of spells

I do not find the one

that helps you forget

what you want

to forget. There is one

for making the bees

come out midwinter

and another to make

the walls speak what

they’ve seen. There’s

a spell for making

minutes go slower, and

a spell to turn a woman’s

skin green. But no spell

to forget what we wish

not to know. There are

thirty-one spells for

forgiveness, though.

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One Way it Could Look

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on May 2, 2015| 3 Comments »

for B

I would like to pour light
into all your frightened spaces,
and wherever you are tired,
I would like to bring a beautiful dream.
And your wounds, still festering
beneath scars, I want to bring salve
that will heal even the past
through a blend of forgetfulness and grace
so that you can walk back into the world
with your own pitcher of light
and dreams and salve to share,
perhaps you could even spare
a little light, a little softness,
a little grace
for me.

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Two Portraits of Patience

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 6, 2015| 3 Comments »

waiting for forgiveness
as if it were a train
and the rails are long gone

*

my heart an apple blossom
afraid it doesn’t know
how to become apple

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Christmas Morning

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 26, 2014| 3 Comments »

What was it under the tree
I was hoping for—perhaps
forgiveness, not the kind
you can tie up with a bow,
no, rather the kind
you don’t even know is there,
except you notice you can’t
stop laughing and everything,
even the awkward scale
you carry in your breath,
even that seems luminous,
some small, amusing scrap
of heaven.

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Isn’t That What We All Want?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on December 21, 2014| 3 Comments »

Kneeling in aisle three,
in front of the red hots,

colored sugars and non-pareils
reading their labels

and shopping price,
I did not know what I wanted

until a stranger with a dark beard
and brown coat walked around me

and said in a soft, smiling voice,
“I forgive you.”

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