Another blogger’s work reminded my of several haiku languishing in my desk
Mark Twain knew them well Paddle-powered beasts of Burden spewing ash
6/24/95
Archive for April, 2012
I’m reminded
April 20, 2012A Small Upper Window
April 15, 2012A Small Upper Window
A light is seen through the treetops A small window on an upper floor It’s late Someone must be reading Or can’t sleep Perhaps an attendant is there The building looms in the dark Like a castle Sitting on a hill Stone Stories tall and a block long But that one small window … there’s a light on I imagine a castle keep A safe place, caring, secure Or a tower A prisoner’s room, lonely, confined Possibly either or both Only the occupant knows on a particular day Maybe that’s my room someday In that old nursing home on the hill How will I see things? Filled with hope and gratitude or despair? Grace-filled or having been forsaken? In peaceful surrender or stubborn resistance? That light, that window So peaceful looking Against that immense silhouette Light does that to darkness Even the smallest glow Brings reflection, imaginings, questions© 2012 Thomas W. Cummins
The Five Voices Spoke
April 13, 2012
The five voices spoke
Ancient words, Greek, Latin
Within an ancient ritual
Set to modern music
At least it was modern then
Voices
Rising and falling
Accelerating, pausing, slowing
Louder, joyful anticipation, praise
Quiet, more somber, reflective, sorrowful
A voice, a flute
A voice, oboes
A voice, a French horn
A voice, a violin
A chorus of voices, a chorus of instruments
Each voice
Rising and falling
Accelerating, pausing, slowing
Louder, joyful anticipation, praise
Quiet, more somber, reflective, sorrowful
Filling the room
The music reached up, out
White and gold
Walls softly held the music
Letting it probe and feel the gilded splendor
Caressing fingertips exploring
Wanting to escape?
Or just remembering
The last time this grand space listened
Bach’s Mass in B minor
© 2012 Thomas W. Cummins
A Prophecy For Humankind
April 10, 2012April 10, 2012
Back in the 60s I came across a quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and I have tried to find it off and on ever since. In today’s readings in Give Us This Day, there it was following a small bio acknowledging the date of Father Teilhard’s death in 1955. It reads,
The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
I can’t imagine his being alive today, what he would be thinking, what he would be praying for, how he would assess the strength of the prevailing wind against his vision, his hope for all of us.
Perhaps when we realize the futility of what we want over and against our ordained stewardship to and for each other and all creation, things will begin to change.
Morning Run Under the Blossoms
April 4, 2012
Morning Run Under the Blossoms
Pink against rough gray concrete
Pale, delicate
Pristine and undisturbed
Petals – strewn in a graceful arc
Preparing the way
Providing a pattern, a prelude to
Shade’s coolness
Soothing, scarce, often fleeting
Such welcome respite from
Saint Louis sun
Sensing winter’s pallor
Soaking in as though invited
© 2012 Thomas W. Cummins
In a dim light... 