Saturday, March 24, 2018

150 Pathways to God: #13 Fasting from thorns


Welcome Judith Sornberger, guest blogger, and author of Open HeartWal-Mart OrchidPracticing the World, and The Accidental Pilgrim: Finding God and His Mother in Tuscany.

Below is one of several poems from a series called “Days of Ash and Wonder”—poems written during this Lenten season. Some are more personal than others, but, as with all so-called “personal” or “confessional” poems, the hope is that they will speak to others, nonetheless.  

If I were to fast this Lent,

it would be in solidarity

with deer in this season

over ever-deepening snow,

so famished for a taste

of green, they try the holly

bush beside my porch.

How can I fail to cringe,

watching them take in

the thorny leaves

on tender tongues?



Instead of chocolate or wine,

maybe for these few weeks

I can fast from thorny words

crossing my tongue.

If not love my enemies,

maybe refrain from hating

them aloud to my neighbor.

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