Rare amalgam of Word and Spirit
structure and energy,
the dance of one and many,
of loss and gain.

Celebrating relations
rent and wondrously rewoven.

For we are splendid and slight,
formidable and fragile,
rocklike and porous,
buffeted and resilient,

thinking, loving, singing reeds:
chanting poignant psalms
of repentance and rejoicing.

 

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, has contributed to Commonweal for fifty years. A selection of his essays and reviews, some of which first appeared in Commonweal, has been published as Christ Brings All Newness (Word on Fire Academic).

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Published in the March 10, 2017 issue: View Contents