Feb 11 – improbable winter welcome

Tuesday February 11

I have not posted a poem by Mary Oliver recently.  “Making the House Ready for the Lord” emerges from the depths of winter.  If I use my imagination and take her images seriously, it makes my toes curl a little; maybe especially the squirrel.   “It’s cold outside,” says the poet,  “How deep might the capacity for welcome run?  Whose house is it anyway?”

Winter won’t last forever.   Have a blest day.

john sj

 

Making the House Ready for the Lord

Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but

still nothing is as shining as it should be

for you. Under the sink, for example, is an

uproar of mice – it is the season of their

many children. What shall I do? And under

the eaves

and through the walls the squirrels

have gnawed their ragged entrances – but it is

the season

when they need shelter, so what shall I do?

And the raccoon limps into the kitchen and

opens the cupboard

while the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow;

what shall I do? Beautiful is the new snow falling

in the yard and the fox who is staring boldly

up the path to the door. And still I believe

you will

come, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox,

the sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering

sea-goose, know

that really I am speaking to you whenever I say,

as I do all morning and afternoon: Come in,

Come in.

 

Mary Oliver

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