I Confess
by John Herlihy
________________________________________
I confess
To having doubts,
Trapped in a spider’s web—
Fragility that never lets go.
I confess
It is not easy to speak.
Let me think what to say,
Think what I must and must not say.
I confess
That I pray
To find presence—
Intimacy with the spirit within me.
I confess
That I still hunger
To be enflamed and filled
For what lies beyond the horizon.
I confess
That I surrender
To the one lone truth,
To the one and only Reality.
I confess
That I dream
To melt into the dream of us,
As wax in a burning candle.
I confess
To a desire to be free,
To escape out of ourselves
Into the far distant beyond.
I confess
Wanting a permanent place—
The heart no longer conflicted,
The soul at home, at peace.
I confess
To the things endless—
Of wondering, of searching
In the infinity of the dark night.
I confess
To seeking God’s greatest gift,
Found only within ourselves:
Our need to love and be loved.
I confess
To be wanted, to be needed,
To respond to the outpouring—
A cup filled by virtue and esteem.
I confess,
I repent,
I ask forgiveness
For the error of my ways.
I confess
Having an interest in the unknown,
To open the petals of its mystery,
To take me where I desire to go.
I confess
To keeping a secret
That I will never disclose—
An intimacy impossible to reveal.
It is not easy to confess,
More difficult to speak aloud.
Perhaps nothing left to say—
Silence its own confession.
— —
Copyright © John Herlihy
Saturday, 31 January 2026
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To me, if one can openly admit to anyone who asks what others would deny, that's true confession.
Confession to oneself doesn't really let the confession out, it remains within..
Ron