On Divine Mercy Sunday - poem

 

Lawrence Hall

Mhall46184@aol.com

https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/

poeticdrivel.blogspot.com

 

On Divine Mercy Sunday

 

Above all, don’t lie to yourself.

 

-Father Zossima in The Brothers Karamazov

 

On Palm Sunday a shortage of palms

On Divine Mercy a shortage of mercy

An onion, a candle, a moment, a prayer -

We’d better give something of ourselves away

A Novitiate in the World - poem

Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com

A Novitiate in the World

“…you will go forth from these walls,
but will live like a monk in the world.”

-Father Zossima to Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov

Every vocation is a novitiate
And every labor a monastic prayer:
Matins and Lauds are sung over coffee,
Then Terce for the plough, the lathe, and the wheel

Sext is gratitude for the midday meal
And None is the hour for downing tools
Soft Vespers is the song of happy homes
‘Til Compline sends all good folk to their beds -

Final vows are taken at death; for now,
Every vocation is a novitiate