Sunday, January 27, 2008

I LOVE this poem

A prayer to the god who fell from heaven

If you had stayed
tightfisted in the sky
and watched us thrash
with all the patience of a pipe smoker,
I would pray
like a golden bullet
aimed at your heart.
But the story says
you cried
and so heavy was the tear
you fell with it to the earth
where like a baritone in a bar
it is never time to go home.
So you move among us
twisting every straight line
into Picasso,
stealing kisses from pinched lips,
holding our hand in the dark.
So now when I pray
I sit and turn my mind
like a television knob
till you are there
with your large open hands
spreading my life before me
like a Sunday tablecloth
and pulling up a chair yourself;
for by now
the secret is out.
You are home.

-- John Shea

5 comments:

Terri said...

Yes. Great poem - and I love John Shea....

Jan said...

This is an excellent poem. Thank you for introducing me to it!

Iris said...

beautiful...

Di said...

I'm just bopping in to say-- ditto to Sen. Obama and ++Katharine.

Terri said...

baptism pictures on my blog....