Hope Blooms

          

I am here

You are there

Then

I am there and

You are here in some way

For some reason known only to God

This is deep prayer

 

Sometimes 

I wonder why it is so deep

Because day after day

There are moments that I feel

Hopeless

And I ask the question

Is my praying making any difference

 

At least in my imagination

In my heart

That is the question

That bubbles just under my service

 

I know that Hopelessness

Cannot take over my prayers and

Suddenly

I feel surprised

As it dawns on me

That in the faithfulness to

This practice of prayer

No matter what

Moment by moment

There will be hope

There will be joy

 

Back and forth

Forth and back

I am checking in

Encouraging my heart to utter prayers

No matter what despair is lurking

Or what doubts can be seen in my shadows

Prayers

That I hope are

Encircled with love

Encircled with hope

For you, for me, for the world

 

In a flash

A moment comes

It always comes

When I sink into the most familiar

Place of prayer

The dark night of my soul

Breathing in silence and waiting for 

The union with Love

That prays

For and with and through me

 

I smile

Always I smile

And Hope emerges

Swelling in slow motion

Hope becomes the language

Of the prayer of my heart

That Love and I pray together

Sometimes singing

Sometimes painting

Sometimes imagining

Sometimes dreaming

Together

For you, for me, for the world

 

There

In my dark night prayers

Hope blooms

In colors and sounds and joys and energy

That will never tire us.

Hope is new life

For you, for me, for the world.

               

 

This week I have been participating in a class on Environmental Ethics.  I have been contemplating a quote that was used in one of our textbooks Earth-Honoring Faith, by Dr. Larry L. Rasmussen.  The quote comes from a poem by Denise Levertov called “Beginners:”  How could we tire of hope!–so much is in bud. 

In addition to this poem I have been contemplating a statement by Dr. Rasmussen in class:  Hope is never giving up on the possibility of new life.

These ideas germinated this poem as I was taking photos in the garden at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, England–15 August 2019.

 

Poem and photographs © Alicia Randolph Rapking, 15 August 2019