And Where Should I Look?

Visiting Chartres Cathedral with “teenage agnosticism . . .I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was real, and that he wanted me.” Rod Dreher

Somehow I am drawn to the language of poetry again. One more time, perhaps, feeling a little cramped by the prose of our lives. Prose may take me back into the battles that rage across our lives, the fierce polarized battles of who is right and what is true. Poetry is the language I need right now. I am looking for wonder, as so many are these days. When I hear the song of wonder singing in the morning, I am turning to poetry.

So, here is one more poem I have written. I hope it speaks to you.

And Where Should I Look?

  For Tim Smith, my teacher and friend

Where should I look to find the wonder I long for?

Should I turn to the old poems I’ve known

so well before? Should I turn

to the songs of the prophets who peer

into the mysteries of God’s presence?

Should I watch the hand of Jesus

as he strokes the blind, so tenderly,

those eyes open to a world never before seen?

Should I look across to that yellow tree,

oh so yellow I can hardly breathe? Can I hope

to find in church the wonder I’m looking for?  

I have walked before each of these paths, but now I turn

afresh, thinking pretty hard, where I might find

this wonder again. Maybe God has it all bundled up.

And yet I know he wants to spread it all about.

Keep looking, I hear, keep looking.   

And then I listen as he unfolds into the quiet of the morning,

so quiet I can hear the angles singing, “Holy, holy, holy,”

I hear them say, “the whole earth is full of his glory.”