Two Poems for Memorial
Day 2015
1.
Humanity,
God’s vast
three
dimensional
jigsaw
puzzle, its
pieces
laid out
neatly
like corn rows,
some
scattered about
in
ocean depths,
others
borne aloft
on
the wind,
particles
of human
DNA
intermixing with
that
of creation.
You
and I have been
present
at the departure
of
human life at
churches
and nursing
homes,
hospitals,
emergency
rooms,
people
going forth,
their
piece of the
puzzle
laid to rest,
forever
connected
with
that of
their
ancestors.
Our
individual pieces,
interlocked
physically,
emotionally,
and spiritually
from
the first moment
we
made love, will
one
day, too, be joined
to
the wholeness of
human
life, a part
of
the great puzzle
of
humanity that
stretches
eternally
across
all dimensions.
2.
Long
have I thought
of
life like a dance.
Odd,
is it not, that
someone
like I,
barely
able to place
one foot in front
of
the other, would
use
such a metaphor?
Many
have we known
who
danced with us
to
the music of Life’s
fiddle.
Some danced
with
excitement and flair,
like
fireworks on the
fourth
of July, brilliant
exploding
colors of
light
only to be
be
quickly extinguished
from
our sight.
Others
have danced
long
and slow,
like
horses plodding
along,
faithfully pulling
a
plow behind them.
And, there are those
who
danced erratically,
dance
steps of a
cantankerous
sort,
possessing
qualities
of
beauty, irritation,
intelligence,
stupidity,
quality
and pity.
Finally
the steps of the
damned,
whose steps
are
like knives stabbing
and
slashing at the
other
dancers around
them.
Some of these,
short
dances quickly
ending
in violence, and
others
cut interminably
long
sweeping swaths
across
the dance floor,
scattering
dancers
wherever
they dance.
We
began our dance
on
Marion Street,
the
awkward steps
of
a teen’s first
sock
hop, outside
the
house of your
Aunt and Uncle.
Were
we to objectively
observe
our dance
from
afar, what
kind
of dance
would
it be?
© 2015, Deacon Bob
Wagner OFS. All rights reserved.
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