Honorable Mention

It began when my mother told me I should enter a poetry contest a publication she received was having. So, I wrote a poem based on a metaphor my she used in a sermon and entered it. This summer, I was notified that I received an honorable mention in the contest and that at some point this year Spiritual Directors International would use it in a publication. But I didn't know when or in what publication it would appear.

Then I got an email from Mom, forwarded to her by a friend, who had come across it on her own. It appeared in their October e-newsletter and online. What I particularly like is the context in which the poem appears -- with the opening reflection and the closing thoughts.

But here is the poem on its own.

When You Are Weary of Circles

Even when the map is gone, when
you’ve noted again that same patch of field lilies---
Still, you are not without means:

Choose a nearby tree to lean on while you
turn back to mark one behind you,
and one before, thus align yourself,

like Orion’s belt, in the middle of three
landmarks. In this way go
around mossy boulders or through creeks,

walking ever in a steady course
out of the pathless wild.
For when you gain the outmost tree,

look back at what had been the middle,
then look ahead, set some new goal in that line,
and begin again, narrowing the distance

to the place you will rest next.
From tree to tree, ever in threes,
you can continue, making your way forward

believing what is within your grasp is enough
to lead you to the unknowable all.
You may miss the shortest route to comfort,

may pass by a summer cabin in the wood.
But in time, you will find a paved road, see
a barn in the distance, or hear your name being called.

And while you go, you will attend
the land you traverse, intend
the path you take in your journey to be found.