Image by Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB. All rights reserved.
What, then.
When walks are not relieving,More a long distance paceUp and back.When anti-anything meds do not work, When rosaries, and prayer requests, And offering-ups are not enough, What then?When the ache to feelThe love of Our Lord, Embrace of Mary’s arms, Lifted by the Holy Spirit, Or wrappedIn my Guardian’s wingsIs left without sense,What then?When the scars of the heartAre healed and still tight, When the soul is bloated with love And lacks release, What then?When fear silences the longingFor home with God,Because the hearer hears falselyIntents of suicide,Not intensity of love,What then?When pain is deep, And doesn’t matter.When the heart skips and pounds Beneath the bone, No fear constricts the throat, What then?When God feels absent In Adoration or at MassIn the eyes of others,Or in my rooms, What then will suffice?When words read or written, Penned on pad and prodded Then circled, danced with, Moved past, visitedAgain, and again are not enough, What then?When all that God gave,Is giving, promised and fulfilled, When every wall of every room Carries an echoing call, And it is not enough What then?When I sit as near to paradiseAs God will allow, When beauty confounds, And Grace is exposed, And I ache with a longing That only angels and saints lack, And all this is not enough.What then but faith will do.
2104 Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB