The Thanking Day With prayer, I start the Thanking Day, At dawn, I kneel, Te Deum, pray. I dress for Mass then wake a son. He’ll serve the priest, a chosen one. A hushed low Mass right after Matins, Our Lord above all sons’ gold patens. He’ll lay upon my wicked tongue, I pray, forgive, […]
All That’s True I saw two trees that grew entwined, The pine tree and the beech tree twinned, As night and day are of one mind Though separate they grew as kin Roots the arms around each other, The pine tree growing evergreen, Close as if the two were brothers, The beech tree fallen autumn […]
Dilating Heart Your grace is overflowing Within my soul and showing A beam of light in tenebrae. My heart I feel is swelling With love, for you’re indwelling, Deep-rooted friend and Domine. Lead onward in this sailing Of white-capped years unveiling To reach the shores of iubilae. And with your strength instilling A tattered heart, […]
That Well When I was a child of four Beneath the surgeon’s blazing light I walked along a burning road Sun upon me while I bled By the road I saw a pump, A handle to bring water up, Iron black in summer heat, I struggled near on my small feet Oh pump of iron, […]
The Joy of God’s Creation In a house filled with loved ones, Loneliness leached into my heart and mind. Like water seeping through moss, It soaked my soul, sinking me. My heart, heavy with grief, ached Like a swollen river exceeding its banks. My only solace, the silk of my baby’s breath against my cheek. […]
I Saw a Baby I saw a baby at the stream, Perhaps or maybe not a dream, Who played with water, thrust his hand Into the pool, the golden sand And then scooped up a golden fish, This is my life, he said, to bless Or throw again into the pool, To swim from what […]
A Poet’s Whisper Whisper through a blazing trail With careful steps on burning coals With thoughtful deeds in freezing homes Give pure white thoughts to blackened souls. A whisper is a light entwined In darkness set just for a time, A steeple high above the night, A shadow dimmed in morning’s light Whisper visions to […]
Hush The nuns of Puebla were disbanded One hundred fifty years ago In Mexico The dark Reform of Juarez came, O General, you put the nuns away In private life to pray or not to pray No convents, nor in clericals Would Bishops or their priests be dressed, Nor would as Father be addressed So […]
Sailor’s Calm Calm serene days Sizzling stifling doldrums… Crystal clear depths Beneath a silver blue mirror A sailor’s calm… “Calm seas do not make a skilled sailor” Off in the distance Mushroom clouds inflate! Horizon blackens Trade wind wall shatters the calm The mirror splinters Small glittering shards, dancing lights Shards fade to gray Then black […]
The Coldest Fire in the World Black Gum leaf is crimson black And on a branch a red winged hawk Dark becomes the autumn dusk Through the branches crossed and blessed Electric yellow in the west Mice go timid from their nests Down the yellow poplar tree Leaves let go, the hands float free The […]
The Roast Beef Hour Cloth of cream China plate Crystal vases Decorate. Blossoms orange Mums of yellow Autumn eve A Sunday mellow. Sterling silver Piney vapor Scents the air From brass held taper. Dad and mom Sipping wine Roasting beef Upon we’ll dine. Chilly children Crunch on leaves Runny noses Wiped on sleeves. Whipped potatoes […]
Flame I tell you the trees were on fire Refulgent but never a flame, Ruby intense and a sulfur Lit from within by a name Like the halls of a palace of columns They lead to a room with a throne, Each with its top in the heavens, The arch of the spread of them […]
When I Confess Amidst unwonted dregs of transgress Where in this fetid pool suppress Both glint and virtuous finesse You stoop, plunge, and convalesce. Fr. Thomas Flynn, LC
The Great Trees Mid-summer and the woods are dry Soil on hillsides runs to sand, Ancient trees begin to die Unless their roots are deeper than the roots of Man Dry the season and the air Draws out the running where it ran, Beasts emerging when they dare Drink from what lies deeper than the […]
Angels at Play I see beauty in a vicious storm An enraged green sea suspended above Opposing winds churn and whirl the nimbus A strange fierce loveliness to behold After the storm, something uncommon Green gives way to a gold that glows On trees and fences and yards and homes Heaven’s light breaks through for […]
Light from Light The ruby throat in air defers, Presents his forehead to larkspur, Walks as Christ on Galilee, Weightless goes as so did He Receives the pollen as a grace, A Eucharist on beak and face, Floating sign and metaphor, Convey to us: receive, adore Blood of wine, flesh of wheat, Wing of angel […]
De Profundis Every Sacrament I could… Immersed my soul In graces good. Every penance That I uttered In fear and trepidation Shuddered. Every child I birthed in pain I offered Him So souls would gain. And now my soul In night won’t cease For you my prayers… De Profundis. Hilary M. Flanery
In What Way do you Know of Death? He said: There is no afterlife, no God I asked him for his date of birth His time of death He knew when he was born On the basis of authority For he did not have full sentience then But as for when he dies He says: […]
Chance I’ve heard some men of a wiser lot Assert the premise that all was naught; That man and woman, bird and beast Were plucked by chance, and by chance deceased. That life is chance, and a chance but one, So live it up before you’re done. But might I chance to question them, Haven’t […]
Adoration A mass of people on a plain All those who live and ever lived Face the everlasting A plain of such immense extent That souls from the beginning to the end Will not fill it all Around them and behind them Refulgence of the everlasting Fills eternity We who faced the light-creating sun The […]
Harmonies of Heaven… Have you heard what Strauss has written of late? His ‘Space Odyssey’ just a Prelude To fresh scores Inspiration derived from heaven’s wonders Soaring melodies among celestial subjects Musicians of old performing for the banquets of paradise His harmonies now enchant the angels As they tend to their earthly charges Their graceful […]
Disrespectful Flesh As I walked along the river In the spate of rushing spring, I gave it voice and heard it lecture: You must die by summoning Man, remember you must die As I must hurry down to rest, The burning of the sun must dry My curvedness, so it confessed You and I must […]
The Luckiest Tree I am just a simple tree Though prouder you could never be, For near the outskirts of Bethany I hosted the Holy Family. Exhausted from their jaunting journey To Bethlehem town, by Caesar’s decree The woman with Child and husband, three Fleeing the sun sought me, sought me! That day still lurked […]
A Silver Fence A silver fence invisible A wedding couple will contain Although their rings perceptible Guard the fingers of their veins Christ the shepherd wedding guest Rings them in the sanctuary Where the Eucharist is blessed, The sheepfold of fidelity Rings of silver need require On the fingers of the heart Nothing round against […]
