Lent

Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent, occurred just a couple of weeks ago. Having been raised in a household where the beginning of Lent meant the family saying the rosary together each night and visiting the church to follow the Stations of the Cross, the onset of Lent use to be a real time of reflection for me, and that reflection would often culminate in the writing of a poem.

In recent years, I have been so caught up in the day-to-day busy-ness of life that I often skim past the  beginning of Lent without it even registering  that we are into the Easter season.  Fortunately, Ed is much more attuned than I am.  Yesterday, he sent me a poem he had written that I think does a remarkable job of being on both an observation on the transmutation of language and a reflection on what the season means.

Lengthening

Lent

Means

To lengthen

To unpack

The soul

Which is

Condensed

Confined

So tightly

It remains

Small

Undeveloped

It’s perilous

Unsettling

To loose control

To have paradigms

Upheaved

Like tectonic plates

The Lenten journey

An opportunity

If embraced

To nourish

Gather light  

Permit oneself

To stretch

Elongate

Lengthen

Like a shadow

In the late afternoon

Of a rescinding winter