-- Seams of a Life --

John Herlihy

My life is a fabric full of patches and seams,

Stitching me together as a river born of streams.

The stitching has served me well over the years,

Through a good deal of sweat, turmoil and tears.

Oh how I wanted to become a tapestry,

Hand-stitch myself into a work of art,

Full of scribes and gentlewomen and forest deer,

Frolicking their way through a palace park.

But I am nothing more than a rough fabric,

Uncouth, imperfect, not worth the trouble.

Ever in search of a wand full of magic,

In old age, I now walk bent over double.

The earth itself has a seam,

The horizon between heaven and earth.

At night, aglow in the light of moonbeams;

By day, the sun shines down upon earth’s turf.

God’s truth moves from sunrise to sunset;

His day and night affect every created thing.

From the atom to the oceans, their tidal onset,

Truth hovers over everything with invisible wing.

The unseen hides within the fabric of the universe,

From blossoms to swamp frogs to snow.

When birds rise from the ground in unison,

They know precisely where they want to go.

In a world full of patches and seams,

The human body is seamless, a mystery,

The breath of wind, the soul of light beams,

Fused together by the Spirit of the one Reality.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Monday 26 July 2021