Giving Gifts to God Babe of Bethlehem, Your Star still lights the way. You are the loveliest flower, Your Father’s good creation, A wondrous bouquet. Kings are approaching, Bearing gifts, While this New Day dawns. This day finds me by Your side, Reverently watching, As you nurse At Mother Mary’s breast. In the ordinary tasks […]
On the Disastrous Spread of Aestheticism in all Classes Impetuously I sprang from bed, Long before lunch was up, That I might drain the dizzy dew From the day’s first golden cup. In swift devouring ecstasy Each toil in turn was done; I had done lying on the lawn Three minutes after one. For me, […]
The Song That Never Sleeps (For the birthday of Matthew Hill-Spur, who has inspired me with both the British rebel streak and steady sense of determination) *** We will remember The “failures” The “losers” The “rejects” Who dared to be more Then others allowed In the smallness of their minds Victory in failure Forever holds […]
How far above politics You are, O Lord – high above the low-slung mud and lack of love shown for others, including our own country. Let us be a nation who dwells in You. Let Your justice reign! Let Your regard for every person be the law by which we guard ourselves from error. Bind […]
Dancing With God (Remembering Doris) Early one morning in the Holy Land, I gazed heavenward and smiled; An image painted in cloud, Floated in the sky. “I had the best dream,” My companion, shared; “It was so real.” “I was dancing with Jesus.” God delights to confirm the visions, He gives His friends. The heavens […]
The Aristocrat The Devil is a gentleman, and asks you down to stay At his little place at What’sitsname (it isn’t far away). They say the sport is splendid; there is always something new, And fairy scenes, and fearful feats that none but he can do; He can shoot the feathered cherubs if they fly […]
God’s Favorite Language After Compline, Brother Leo started his wordless pilgrimage around St. Bernard’s canopied with stars that sang their light. Quiet became his passport into the kingdom to come. His prayers were invisible like the God whom he served but who spoke to him in the Creator’s favorite language to share mysteries and prophecies, […]
Forgive me, Lord, for praising me the show-off, the classy clown, the all-star player, the sassy comeback, the all-A everything, who sometimes forgets that praise belongs to You. Forgive me, Heavenly Father-Mother, for seeking adulation from others, for people-pleasing then performing poorly because I didn’t follow the script – the Holy Scriptures You gave. Save […]
A Blessing for New Life All Holy, Almighty, Jesus, Purest Heart, Look upon the sweet beings, God’s good creations, Nestled in the sanctity of human wombs. Encircle the world through these little ones, With Triune Love. Bless Mother Eve with the “Fiat” grace of Mother Mary, To bring forth a generation wed to Your Holy […]
Our Lady of Britannia Thou stood on Newgate Arch and graced Pendragon’s shield Cardigan bore thy taper and Walsingham thy seal Humbly we now beseech thee as at thy feet we kneel: Our Lady of Britannia, ora pro nobis! From Scotia’s misty moors, to Albion’s fertile plains, From Cambria’s mountain climes, to Erin’s emerald glens, […]
The Donkey When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve, […]
The Starlight Night Look at the stars! look, look up at the skies! O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air! The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there! Down in dim woods the diamond delves! the elves’-eyes! The grey lawns cold where gold, where quickgold lies! Wind-beat whitebeam! airy abeles set […]
The Price of Friendship What price can be put On a friendship? None! Not the measured sum Of life itself. Friends are part Of one’s own self, A fragment Of the greater web That weaves The Universal Truth. A Friend Is one who makes up Part of you, The better part, And brings forth treasures […]
In the beginning God created time with a moon clock and space with the compass of the sun. After that cosmic moment, everything changed! Oceans ebbed and flowed. Plants grew edible. People pulsated as though made of music, made of stardust. Days passed in beauty, resting at week’s end, and sometimes we remembered praise as […]
Not Me but Thee Lord, as I begin this day, Have it Your way. I seek not me, but Thee. When bitter valley threaten, And I count the cost, I choose not me, but Thee. In the dark night. Trace Your path upon my heart, That demons, seeking to terrorize and tempt, Meet not me, […]
This Snake This snake Is tired of dragging itself through the dirt Tired of all the sacrificial victims it has swallowed and crushed Tired of being cold Tired of its small snake heart This snake is drowning and Like a stray worm Inches and rolls and arches and drags itself Toward higher ground Forever shedding […]
Praise the Maestro of Heavenly Music Who brings the most unlikely instruments into accord around the One Pure Note of Christ. May the melody of the Lord surround us with such power that shouts of terror go mute among us. Praise the Almighty God, our Great Conductor for orchestrating every task and aspect of our […]
Host upon the Altar Pristine the whiteness Engulfed in radiant flame, Golden the rays, Set about Your throne upon the altar. For all the beauty of the monstrance, You outshine the artist’s creation, Just as You outshine Creation. Give me eyes to see the Reality. My eyes are designed to apprehend matter. Here, You give […]
Waiting Room A young man With a sparkling earring And clothes that reek Of sickening smoke, The kind that dulls All the senses And makes me choke He’s tapping his foot, A jerking rhythm Of uneasiness The smoke is in his mind; I know it is His eyes are glazed They dart as if watching […]
Here I am, Lord, ready to listen, ready to pray, ready to watch You and be amazed, ready to thank You and give You praise. Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2016
Unknown Martyr Each night, she scrubs tile floors after waiting tables all day: her hands and knees raw, exhaustion bringing her one day closer to death. Her only thought, a son and daughter— how to keep them fed with a roof over head, how to survive another month, how to pray in the midst of […]
on st. henry walpole’s martyrdom beauty in itself is a useless thing like the lilies of a summer’s field or the light of a winter’s moon useless, too, was your priesthood toward the salvation of even one english soul yet such beauty was not lost after the seeds of your severed body were buried for […]
A Bard’s Prayer “As an author and artists who greatly appreciates the Celtic Bardic tradition, I felt inspired to write this prayer for those who seek to enlighten through their art.“ Let me catch the flame Golden, glittering, glaring So my fingers may glow as I hold the pen Let me taste the wine Sweet, […]
