Discerning the Lord
Ash Wednesday I try,
Walking up for my smudge,
To sense You in the rite--
Sooty crumbles skittering down my nose.
Lenten day by Lenten day
I squint my eyes to see,
In mundane March,
The moments of penitent piety.
Good Friday I shut myself in,
Poring over the story,
Calling up devotion,
Cross-legged on the bed with the Word.
Good Friday noon I find a place
Where still ‘til three
The faithful gather—
Remembering those dark hours.
Have I conjured emotion,
Struck up sadness,
Practiced the presence
Until I feel what I know?
Easter morning I shiver in the dark
With the few faithful,
In this cemetery somewhere,
To re-enact the rising.
But all for naught.
Dust, surrender,
Solitude, sleepiness—
All these are but negations.
While You,
Who fill all in all,
Walk lively among us,
Pour riches down our throats.
You shine, break forth,
Uplift, surround,
Overflow, abide—
Bursting our wineskins in forceful joy.
And suddenly the ashes fly upward,
A gust of real life—
Privations and vigils
Swept up in Your dance.
©2014, Cindy Marsch
