Steady me, Steel me

Steady Me

Steady me, steel me,

soften me, gradually

to take in the Truth

that Love has found me.

Found me foolish, found me free,

found me in wonder,

found me.

Found me, is bound to me,

blooming, astounding,

loosing and grounding,

enticing, revealing,

opening, healing.

Moving the rock,

rolling the cloth,

calling my name,

calling me forth

to the world,

to the Cross,

toward grace, toward yes.

Steady me, steel me,

Love has found me.

Amazing.

Thank you.

Shall we?

Let’s.

Kimberly M. King, RSCJ

World Poetry Day, 2017

World Poetry Day, 2017

If I was a poem-me, I'd be

a circus juggler meets Sor Juana

with a niggle of Neruda and a 

waltz of Walt.

The swing of Hughes' blues

and the scat-patter of Fitzgerald

would herald speaking of light 

like May Sarton who for pages

places flowers in vases

and I'd illuminate the letters

as did my brothers and sisters

who in convent and monastery

took up quills and honestly

worked to open the windows

behind the Word so the world

could see what was being heard

when proclamation occurred

and the glory of the story

was suddenly off the pages for the ages

free to fly, do or die--

You and I

decide now, today,

that Poetry stays:

To nourish, to heal, to delight, to praise,

to call, to soothe, to challenge, 

to be

where people can meet in full humanity.

If I was a poem-me,

that's the sort I'd want to be.

Kimberly M. King, RSCJ

Love in a Time of Lent

The other day someone recited a passage from Isaiah 43 to close a conversation we'd had. 

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia[a] and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you...

As I listened to these words, I knew I had heard them many times before. In a way, some measure of the truth within them is with me always and there is a strengthening comfort in that familiarity. There was more, though...more than the familiar...there was the feeling of new, of first glimpsing this mystery of Love and feeling the bloom of awe and the shiver of proximity to something so absolute, so Always and Everywhere, and freeing, and Home, all at the same time... 

The idea that both of those feelings could be true at the same time thrilled me and humbled me and had me give thanks.

After Listening to Isaiah

I realized how comfortable

we are drying dishes

beside one another, old familiars.

I also know that I could still

drop a plate when you call my name

and promise me forever.

Your love has 

that shimmy effect on me.

Always has. Always will.

Kimberly M. King, rscj