“the quality of mercy”
is a fierce and terrible beauty...
it hungers in its waiting
then consumes our darkest brokenness
even as it invites us to its table

 

prayer as archeology
i brush away the dirt
then
slowly small things which were once lost
rise out of the earth of my memory
then awake under the spade of silence

 

a new orleans’ liturgy for easter sunday
jackson square
people gather
a juggler works the crowd
as the traffic pulses into morning
music burns bright on every corner
intense as the torches
he tosses in his hands

Published in the December 18, 2015 issue: View Contents

Lou Ella Hickman, IWBS, has worked as a teacher, librarian, and parish adult-education director. She is now a spiritual director and freelance writer.

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