Unfolding in the silence and sound...(2002)
poem by Peter Menkin

Came to Lent

this season

with fear of the Lord

and weakness.

Asked of Christ,

that the moon will not strike

at night, nor when lost among

strangers cause me adversity of pain.

I am Yours,

You are mine. Abide

in You.

Exercises:Making room for silence,

the sound of life;

listening as penance

these weeks. Long time.

Intimate moments in people's talk, their voices

about Triune God mystery

mark the weeks. Barren depths

of sin reveal themselves.

This is unfolding.

Poem about Lent unfolding during the season...

Each Lent has been different. This year my penitential practices are light. A friend of mine, who is in her eighties, suggests a light Lent. It is her opinion that various things will come to mind during the season. I think she is right. For my reflection, I am reading "Lent with Evelyn Underhill" edited by G.P. Mellick Belshaw (publisher, Morehouse Publishing).

This is a second edition, not the first. In one reading, not typical of most of them, she names the "Seven Roads to Hell": Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony, Lust. These are enough to think about for that one day's exercise.

This poem is almost four years old, and I post it here on this blog to give it an opportunity to express some of my temperament, and perhaps the temperament of others, during this season. It is about how thinking and feeling about matters in Lent can unfold during the Lenten season. It is also about how a person can find him or herself unfolding, as did I that year.

Unfolding in the silence and sound...
by Peter Menkin

Came to Lent
this season
with fear of the Lord
and weakness. Asked of Christ,

that the moon will not strike
at night, nor else when lost among
strangers cause me adversity of pain.I am Yours,
You are mine. I abidein You.

Exercises:Making room for silence,
the sound of life;
listening as penance
these weeks. Long time.

Intimate moments in people's talk, their voices
about Triune God mystery
mark the weeks. Barren depths
of sin reveal themselves.
This is unfolding.