Lenten Poem

I went to a women's spiritual retreat two weekends ago.  Rev C shared one of her favorite books from seminary:  Women's Uncommon Prayers. One of the prayers for Lent spoke to me - it seemed to describe my journey to a T.  


Lent: The Mind's Extremity
by Ms. Rosamond Rosenmeier (July 4, 1928 - Dec. 29, 2011)


Into this late winter time
Lent erupts its Wednesday ash;
black dust darkens our sky.
Return. Return.


Lent leads us down to buried time,
down the mountain
onto a fenceless plain,
a dry savanna where all demons wait.
Lent's unwilled free-fall
plummets us through remorse
and clotted dreams,
into the scarred haunts of hurt,
blame, damage, loss.
We are released into ourselves, alone.


Lent returns us into depths
deeper than the dead are deep
where we come into openness: two crows
on the branch of a single tree-
black carrion birds,
guardians of a slate gray sky.


A cold lightning arcs down
into silence and dim light.
Moment by fearless moment
its sharp pulse flashes
in terror and prayer to the breath's end-
in dust we are returned
to a place where no secrets are hid.


Here the Spirit's slow alchemy
melts every easy expectation,
and a final expanse opens
its felt presence
to the edge of visibility.
We are returned to the rim
to look ourward toward the cusp
of a new place.


Geitz, E.R., Burke. M.A., Smith, A., Bennett, D.Q., McCormick, K., Sukraw, T.J. Women's Book of Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed, Nurtured, Celebrated. Harrisburg, PA, Morehouse Publishing. 2000