A place apart –
surrounded by the multicolored shade
of ancient trees,
a silence soothed –
not broken –
by the silvery flow
of water
rippling over rocks
or birdsong
harmonizing with the whispering grass
stirred by gentle breeze –
haven of tranquility
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
Mid-day shadows born of
Autumn sun
Play out their silent dance
On ocean sands.
Sea gulls solo on their solitary way
Soaring
Swooping
Nesting in sun-softened sand
Sneaking food-for-one
Far from the prying eyes and hungry beaks
Of brother gulls.
Sandpipers play
On skittish feet,
Seeming in the late day sun
Like tiny ocean skaters
Twirling cross the
Sea-slicked sand.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
Christmas
re-incarnates Earth
and peace steals
softly
into human hearts,
stirring embers into
fire,
birthing God-love into
hope.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
I’m ready
…for newness
…for life
…for taking chances
on living
on loving
on seeing each new day,
called by love to start again
to shed the fear,
the caution
that impede God-love,
that tie me to the now
and blind my heart to
newness.
Ready
with open heart and hand
to love the doubt,
embrace the new,
to live today
without the fear of what tomorrow holds,
free to shout my
“Yes”
to all my God will give
to all God’s love holds out
with gentle care,
enticing me to dream anew
and gather to my heart
the promise of my
Gentle God
of
Peace.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
All Goodness
All Sweetness
All Light…
God living among us,
With us…
Emmanuel.
What puzzles the mind,
Eludes the grasp of reason
Is not the “How?”
But “Why?”
And the answer
So simple, so clear
As almost to be missed
Amid the thoughts and words
That seek to reason “Why?”
This God so loved
What God had made from Love
That God became
What God had made!
Heaven came to Earth—
Our God…
Emmanuel…
Lifting us beyond the
Now,
Loving us long before the days of time,
Loving us long beyond the end of days…
Emmanuel!
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
Woman—
steeped in wisdom
born of living,
nurtured by a faith
that knows its God
and understands
…in heart
…in mind
…in deed
that faith is gift
and gift is shared
as gift
of self and being.
Woman—
whose life has been
pure gift to all.
Woman—
ever new,
whose vision sees the gift
of possibility
and is not hindered
by constraints
of pride and fear.
Woman—
whose gentle strength
is rooted in her
Gentle God.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
Sparrow with a broken wing
hopping,
determined,
sure you’ll fly again,
defying all that tries to halt your
journey
cross the grass,
head held high
despite the pain
of sticks and stones
of sharply hardened winter grass
that slows your way,
always ready to start again,
faith in others
strong
as faith in self
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
How to hope
when life turns upside down,
when troubles tumble
uncontrolled
like building blocks
destroyed by childish whim?
How to live with peaceful heart
where violence vilifies our world
in word,
in act,
in glaring eyes of hate?
But always new
our loving God breathes
hope
into a hopelesss world
and gifts our lives
with gentle peace
that no hate can destroy,
a peace,
a hope
that reach beyond the bombs,
that melt the ice of fear
and heal our scarred and injured world.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
coming home —
heart’s home—
where years flow fast and melt away,
where memories shared
become the glue that forges
then to now,
time’s outer change
you question —
puzzled —
yet with closer gaze
evoke the past,
erase the years;
eyes with sudden knowing widen,
filled with pleasured light,
recalling who you were and who you are
and loving both.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
A new year breaks
cold,
wet,
gray with fog,
misted with a haze that hides
today
and veils
tomorrow
from a waiting world.
But ’neath the fog
beyond the mist
a new day waits,
rooted in hope,
embraced by love,
nurtured by the tender touch
of our ever-gentle
God.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
agitated dullness
stirs my heart and head,
weighing down,
dulling sharpened edges
of anger and annoyance,
silencing—
with effort—
my carping tongue,
only to stir again
the harried plaints and grumbles
of my agitated brain.
come and still my heart,
my Love,
calm the frantic bustle of my soul,
let flow your gentle balm,
coating gently
every fiber of my being
with your love,
your peace.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
God-love spirals deep,
stirring with that gentle touch
my core of love,
seeding welcome deep within,
whispering to my heart
a greeting only I can hear
in words that only I can grasp,
spiraling
till at the center we are one,
my God and I,
within our coil of love,
love intense beyond compare
love that must at last emerge
to seek and share embrace
beyond my being;
then heart to heart,
joined as one
my God and I
spiral out from deep heart’s core—
plying,
playing,
embracing worlds beyond my narrow grasp;
our spiral broadens,
spinning,
weaving,
bringing deep within our spiraling dance
the heart of all that lives.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
Telling tales of long ago—
Happy—truly—
And then—startled—
I question—
How can happiness exist
Or joy flow free
When my heart hurts,
My soul so deeply sad?
Can they live
Side by side,
These two so different parts of me?
Or is my joy the deeper—
That piece of God-ness deep within
That holds me fast
And will not let me go,
The heart-love of my gentle God
That knows both joy and grief
And trusts that joy will stay
When grief is past.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
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My God lives softly in my life—
God-Friend
Whose gentle music eases all my pain,
God-Mother who caresses me with tender touch
Whose lilting voice can lull me into restful sleep,
God-Lover
Who whispers tender words of love
Who holds my heart in gentle hands
And plays the chords that hide deep down within my soul,
My God whose music is my life
My God whose life brings music to my heart
My God who loves the God-song deep in me
My God who sings me love songs!
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
Learn from me…We are much alike,
you and I.
We didn’t “become” in an instant,
in a year,
or even in a lifetime.
We are becoming…
yesterday…
today…
tomorrow…
unfolding,
adding layer to layer,
nurtured,
strengthened
from within by time’s embrace,
allowing hidden depths to surface
slowly
quietly,
holding in our souls
a beauty
mystical and deep,
steeped in myst’ries that in time
will burst their bounds
and find their own reflection
in the strength and beauty
of our awesome
God.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
Called to dare,
invited
over and over
again
and
again,
level to level
birth to death
and all the levels in between—
thresholds
spelling out the journey
of my life—
moving to newness,
alone perhaps,
but always conscious
of the God who moves
within,
nudging me with
gentle love
to move beyond the now,
embracing what I do not know
and what my fragile vision cannot see,
excited
even in the face of seeming fear and hesitation
secure in what has been
and trusting that my
God-Who-Was
Is also
God-Who-Is.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
My heart hurts
With pain that seems
—At times—
To have a life,
A will that won’t be silenced,
Pain—
Dull at times
Like rock that weighs too much
To be contained within its fragile sack,
Or throbs with grief,
Twists with hurt frustration—
Struggling
To break the bonds
That struggle to
Maintain.
Yet this heart knows
With wisdom born of years
That pain—
Like life—
Has rhythms all its own,
Like ocean tides,
Waning
Ebbing…
And deeper still
Like ocean’s hidden depths
Lies calm—
A calm that trusts in spite of pain
And soothes a heart
That knows its
God.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
fragile fingers
reaching for the Spring,
trusting
that within their slender grasp
Spring’s new life lies.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
winter lace
entwined ’tween darkened branches
creating patterns—
intricate
delicate
uniquely patterned
ebony snowflakes
against the winter sky
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
© 2010 Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Poetry for Prayer: Volume II. All rights reserved.
