poems = new Array(); /* * I Dream of the Sky */ poems[0] = new Poem("I Dream of the Sky", 1999); poems[0].add("At first I played alone among the leaves:I sought out the dark and hidden spaces.:I dreamed of the earth:And longed for you, my God."); poems[0].add("Eating my way through life:After several changes of skin,:It was You who caused my desire.:I called out to You.:You came and whispered, \"Dream of the Sky\".:And I longed for You, my Lord."); poems[0].add("Then I entered the darkest place.:Confined, I waited again for my skin to crack.:Drying, fragile, dangling by a silken thread,:Scarcely able to imagine Your:presence, my Love."); poems[0].add("What could be the purpose?:What will be the results?:A half breath before extinction, I called out:\"Someone. Anyone. Cut me loose.\":And I questioned Your wisdom and Your love."); poems[0].add("It was Your grace that I break my own bindings,:Lest I emerge too soon, forever weak and crippled.:How else could I know my strength, my truth?:How else could I discover that You are me?"); /* * Self Portrait = Feeling All Untied */ poems[1] = new Poem("Self Portrait - Feeling All Untied", 1996); poems[1].add("You! You started this whole transition:And You alone know when and where it will end!:You fill these two boxes with time and space:And shake them over my head according to Your plan.:You give me time like a never-ending piece of string:You spread space around me like a great ocean.:Ever do I search for that single moment when I can be:Fully concentrated in Your presence, spaceless and timeless."); poems[1].add("In July, You took away Eugenia.:Jack joined You in August, Victoria left for Los Angeles,:And You ended Joe's job.:You brought me Chelsea Jane in September:But took away my house.:In October You took Peg away.:Now it's 1996 and still I sit between these two boxes,:In transition and feeling all untied.:Still waiting for that single moment in Your presence."); /* * The Sweeper */ poems[2] = new Poem("The Sweeper", 1999); poems[2].add("Just when I think to sweep for You, my Lord,:The boundaries blur and I wonder,:\"Am I the sweeper or the swept?\":Intent on clearing Your path of debris,:I neglect my own and yet,:I know You are me and love is us."); poems[2].add("Here! There! I answer the pointing fingers:To scoop up a twig, a stone, a leaf:I keep my gaze down lest they all see that:I do it only for You, my God.:Yet when I point, I am wounded with the knowledge:That three point back at me."); poems[2].add("I think to empty my heart for You, Dearest:And pour out my feelings in a passionless stream:So that You may fill this vessel with Your bliss.:I think to smooth Your path to my heart, Lord:Lest entering, You bruise Your soft bare feet.:Imagine my shame when You come:To stand on the one pebble I've missed:And I cringe with the pain of it all."); /* * Under the Magnolias */ poems[3] = new Poem("Under the Magnolias", 2002); poems[3].add("It was under the magnolias:That I paused for just a moment:To hear what You would say.:I hadn't listened for a while.:And I heard You clearly, \"Hello again\"."); poems[3].add("I couldn't believe my fortune,:That I prayed to hear Your voice and:Once again it was there.:I cried for just the sound of it:Awakening my slumber.:And again I heard You say, \"Hello\"."); poems[3].add("I grabbed my clarinet.:I wanted to set the word to music.:The music of Your voice:Like a rush within the stillness:Again said, \"Hello\"."); poems[3].add("The stones were a witness:To my heart's emotion,:Call answering call,:As the tone of it seeped into me:Filling my flesh with longing.:Did I remember to answer, \"Hello\"?"); poems[3].add("I hope the notes reached You,:\"It's me again\", Revealed my happiness,:The joy of reuniting.:On this day under the magnolias:A question asked and answered.:\"Are You still there?\":\"Yes, hello again!\""); /* * The Initiates Dance */ poems[4] = new Poem("The Initiates Dance", 1998); poems[4].add("What is this great dance You would have me do, Lord?:Migration. Yet ever do I long for home.:Integration.Yet, blown apart by every wind.:You say You are teaching love to my empty heart.:And faith to my wavering mind.:Shaking loose my duck's direction.:Teaching me quietness with every storm."); poems[4].add("I seek You in the farthest lakes of the North.:Only to hear You are far away in the South.:I think to capture You in the nearest fields of the East.:Yet You are nearer to me than even I expect in the West."); poems[4].add("Every morning do I greet You with a great fuss.:Every evening I mourn Your departure as I fold my head beneath my wings.:I am lost and You say it is all just part of my role.:Teaching me ever to look no further than my duck's nose.:Learning that truly, You are everywhere and everything:To dance and smile and quack out my heart to You."); poems[4].add("Long is the flight and I am unprepared.:Yet, ever do You drive me forward, inward.:Just as I think I am lost forever, You light my way.:You provide for all my needs,:but never early, testing always my faith in You."); poems[4].add("How am I to understand this initiation of Yours?:Come, kiss away my fears and still my trembling heart.:Come, show me how we are one and bring me home safely to You, forever."); /* * I Remember I Can Fly */ poems[5] = new Poem("I Remember I Can Fly", 1996); poems[5].add("Ever do I search for You, my God:Through countless morning skies:Blushing in Your first light.:I taste Your nectar in perfumed grains:And in the sweet dew."); poems[5].add("All day long I sing my song of longing.:As evening skies rush toward sunset,:I shelter on a strong branch.:Your stars glitter:In the darkest of nighttime skies."); poems[5].add("Still I search for You, my Lord:Ever do I await Your presence.:Never do I notice:You are all these things.:Imagine my surprise when:You come to smile at me:And I remember I can fly."); /* * Ode to an Amah */ poems[6] = new Poem("Ode to an Amah", 1995); poems[6].add("My beloved, you have ever awaited me in the depths of Ago Bay:You call me forth with your eerie whistle:And comfort me with your soft rocking."); poems[6].add("I tingle at your caress, mother to daughter:And in the silence of this sea, my separateness dissolves:as I long for your wholeness."); poems[6].add("Each day I leave my tiny paper house and seek you again in the icy water.:Ever am I eager and ever are you silent.:Yet I know as surely as if you had promised,:One day I will close my eyes to sleep forever, together in our home in the sea."); /* * The Rangoli */ poems[7] = new Poem("The Rangoli", 1999); poems[7].add("Today, I lay these meager petals for Your feet, Lord.:All day I watch for the slightest stir among them:Lest I miss Your entrance.:I hide my waiting and watching from other eyes:Knowing that my ears listen only for Your step:And my hands prepare food only for Your hunger.:My lips murmur soft songs to You.:All my effort is to lure You to my waiting heart."); poems[7].add("Today I see You, hungry, in the marketplace.:I think to give You food, dal from my tin.:There You are also, bent with age:Making Your way through the dusty street.:I think to lend an arm for support.:Never do You fool me, Lord.:Each time I see only You.:And know the opportunity is just for me."); poems[7].add("Yet running home I find the petals undisturbed.:I weep to call You to my heart and You delay.:Others ask, \"To what purpose do You lay these petals\"?:\"Surely this is a waste of time.:Everyone knows He will not come.\":They laugh at me for my ignorance.:Do You think to fool me with Your chiding, Lord?"); poems[7].add("Today, I watch the sun rise with expectation.:I pick each blossom knowing this will be the day.:You will come to stand at my doorstep and:Rest Your tender feet within their fragrance.:Tonight, I watch the sun drop beyond the horizon and:Still I wait, listening for Your step,:Reaching with my love to Your love.:Tears come to fill my restless night."); poems[7].add("Today, I think to capture You with these petals.:I know it must be today when You will come.:Never do I desist, for surely I can never know the:Moment when You will finally come."); /* *St Agnes Academy */ poems[8] = new Poem("St. Agnes Academy is Having a Fourtieth Reunion", 1995); poems[8].add("I longed to climb the senior stairs:And searched You out, my God.:I pleaded for my mother, \"Save her.\":Yet covered my ears and cried, \"Don't call me!\":Frightened by her mortality I stared into mirrors,:I studied the backs of hands, smooth, clear.:\"Will I grow fat? Will I be sick?\":And You whispered only, \"Yes. In time. Wait.\""); poems[8].add("In yearbook pictures, the progress of her cancer lies on my face.:She dies. She is fifty-four.:I am sixteen. I am motherless:I climb the senior stairs to You, my Lord.:I am scared. Now I plead, \"Take me too.\":And You whisper only, \"I will. In time. Wait.\""); poems[8].add("I am fifty-seven and I realize only the body dies.:Life is a spiral ever drawing me closer to You, my God.:What is there to fear?:I have climbed the senior stairs.:The backs of my hands are stained, wrinkled.:I am fat, yet celebrate my age.:I see Your face in mirrors and ask,:\"What would You have me do with these extra years?\":And You whisper only, \"Come. In time. Wait\""); /* *The Water Bearer */ poems[9] = new Poem("The Water Bearer", 1999); poems[9].add("Water, sweet, sweet water!:I bear this burden of water for You, my Lord.:I spread it among Your fragrant blossoms:Only to inhale Your love and grace.:I pour it out upon the vegetables:Only to chew out Your essence in sweet juices:I wash with it and all the time:I spread only You across my flesh."); poems[9].add("Water, cooling, filling water!:I bear this burden for them, my Lord.:I spill it over the trough that many might drink.:The bullock, the cats and dogs, the pig:All come to share its sweetness.:I sprinkle it upon your stones and:All come to worship You, singing Your praises.:They wash with it and all the time spread only You across their flesh."); poems[9].add("Water, delicious, cleansing water!:I bear this burden for me, my Lord.:I sip the cool sweetness and wonder:What grace is this that I have earned?:To carry You to Yourself each day.:When evening falls I know that tomorrow:I am filled with Your love and if I am lucky:I will wash with it again spreading You across my flesh."); poems[9].add("Oh, that I may bear this sweet burden forever:Until You draw me to Your heart.:I go to the river knowing that You guide my feet,:That I only need to step forth,:That all else is gently arranged for me.:I empty my heart each day in loving You, my Lord.:That You may fill it up again and again:And I can wash with it, spreading You across my flesh."); /* * Toy Soldier */ poems[10] = new Poem("Toy Soldier", 1996); poems[10].add("Little Boy Blue by Eugene Field:The little toy dog is covered with dust,:But sturdy and staunch he stands\;:And the little toy soldier is red with rust,:And his musket moulds in his hands.:Time was when the little toy dog was new,:And the soldier was passing fair\;:And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue:Kissed them and put them there.") poems[10].add("\"Now, don't you go till I come,\" he said,:\"And don't you make any noise!\":So, toddling off to his trundle bed,:He dreamt of the pretty toys.:And, as he was dreaming, an angel's song:Awakened our Little Boy Blue:Oh, the years are many, the years are long,:But the little toy friends are true."); poems[10].add("Aye, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,:Each in the same old place:Awaiting the touch of a little hand,:The smile of a little face\;:And they wonder, as waiting the long years through:In the dust of that little chair,:What has become of our Little Boy Blue,:since he kissed them and put them there."); /* *At Aunt Eleanors Farm */ poems[11] = new Poem("At Aunt Eleanor's Farm - After Chagall", 1997); poems[11].add("Marc Chagall sometimes called his paintings:\"fanciful arrangements of my personal symbols and images.\": He painted himself holding his wife in the air floating above his head.:Around her he would paint scenes of his childhood and his village life in Russia.:Sometimes he would paint a figure with its head on upside down.:I wanted to create a sculpture in the manner of Chagall's paintings:while using my own childhood stories and experiences.: From my artist's stash I chose a rooster, a chair, a washtub and washboard,: a milk pail, a broom, a horse's head, and a piece of silk kimono fabric as symbols for my story."); poems[11].add("My mother had two sisters, Eleanor and Louise.: Mother and Louise married professional men.:Aunt Eleanor married a farmer.: After the Second World War, Uncle Tuck opened one of the first Laundromats in Chicago.:As they became wealthy, my Aunt Eleanor began to wear furs and silks."); poems[11].add("Aunt Eleanor always saw things from a different perspective\;: my mother always fretted.:Aunt Eleanor let me ice skate at her farm\;: Mother worried that I would get my fingers cut off.:As a child I loved horses:A broom horse always slept at the bottom of my bed.:I wasn't allowed to ride because my mother was sure I would be injured.:At Aunt Eleanor's Farm I could ride the horses.:A visit to Aunt Eleanor's farm was always an eventful day.");