Tag Archives: poetry & prayer prose

People of Praise

by

Your people praise you, O Lord.
As points of light,
Scattered about
The surface of the Earth.
Together with angelic choirs,
That dot the firmament,
Your children sing.

With fish, and bird,
With rivers and seas,
With mountains,
And heavenly heights,
Creation sings in chorus,
Affirmation,
Acclamation,
And affection,
In sanctifying hosannas,
That fall as bountiful rain,
To water man and beast
With fruitful exaltation,
Multipling our delight,
As we magnify our God.

We are your mothers,
Fathers, sisters,
Brothers, friends
Of Your fold,
Returning praise,
And worship due
The Most High Lord
Of all creation.
In Your Light we
Become Your Light.

© 2012 Joann Nelander

Your Saints in Glory

by

At the moment
You lift Your saintly friends
From the Earth,
And plant them
In the Heaven of Your Being,
At that precious moment,
And by that fateful act,
You endow
The sons and daughters
Of Your Covenant,
Remaining in this world,
With more,
Not less.

When Your friends
Journey forth,
All the Earth
Is, henceforth, blessed,
And not, otherwise,
Disposed or deprived.

As Your Servants,
Enter Your Realms of Light,
Their charisms become infinite,
In their capacity to bless.

When the smallest of the small
Cries out,
In the name of Your forever Friends,
These other Christs
Answer with Your power to succor.

In the Now of Your Essence,
They share Your Glory.
In Heaven,
There is only one glory,
Which cannot increase.
United to You,
Who, are unchanging,
This new rain falls to
the Earth,
And it’s consenting
creatures, here,
Can and do change,
In the shower
Of Your abundant dew fall.

We are, henceforth,
The beneficiaries of new riches,
Streaming from Your Side,
The Door, by which Your saints
Entered Eternity.

Glory upon glory falls,
As golden droplets,
Upon the land
Of sunrise and sunset.

Your gifts do not cease
With the death
Of those who are Yours.
Heaven is united to earth,
And in the celebration
Of their new birth,
Rejoices.

©2012 Joann Nelander

Purgatory

by

 

My many sins

Have gone up in flames,

And all that is left,

You deem holy.

 

©2012 Joann Nelander

 

What have I ?

by

What have I,
That You have not given?
Can I count myself my own?
Clothed in flesh,
Before I knew the light,
I burst forth
From a borrowed womb.

Opening my eyes on life,
Mother love shown as my sun.
Before hunger could claim me,
My mouth was filled with sweetness,
Free flowing as a font.

Years brought knowledge,
But not answers.
My needs were met,
Far beyond survival’s mark,
So I presumed dominion,
Supposed myself a god.

In time it was Wisdom
That instructed,
As Providence constructed.
It was You
Who hung the heavens.
You commanded the Earth.
You birthed all powers that be,
Created Universe and Light.

Time and Tomorrow
Were born at Your Word,
As star and star dust
Danced to Your music.
I whirled in abandonment,
Irrational contentment.

You hold all in being,
As summit and treasure,
And by Love possessed,
What have I?
What have I?
I have it all!
I have, by that same Love,
You, My Love,
You.

©2012 Joann Nelander

Visit Poetic Picnic at Gooseberry Garden 

Intention

by

All the people of my life,
I place in Your Life.
Living Savior,
One with the Father,
The Spirit,
And lowly me,
Look on my memory,
And on my forgetfulness.

Search my corridors and halls.
Find all those faces and voices
Of my past, present and forgotten.
Forgive them,
As You’ve forgiven me.
Draw them,
As You have drawn me.

Prepare a heavenly paradise,
In which each may dwell.
Life is short;
Memories fleeting.
You alone endure.
Embracing all,
In Your Eternity.

Amen.

 

Copyright Joann Nelander  © 2011    All rights reserved 

The Breech

by

How great is the distance between us?

Some would say
The span from East to West,
Or measure in miles the chasm
Stretching from Heaven to Hell.
Others count the centuries
Since Your earthly Presence
In hallowed flesh.

There is no numbering
Eternity or Divinity.
You are closer than my breath.
Your Heart beats within my breast.
Day by day,
Nay, moment by moment,
I pick up Your rhythm.

Traversing the breech,
You make me Your own.
Small, but beloved,
I repose in willful abandonment.
Grace-filled faith,
A movement,
Not a measure,
Soars to the heavens,
In flights of trust in You.

Copyright Joann Nelander  © 2011    All rights reserved