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Poetic Responses to Psalms and Scripture


But the love of the Lord is everlasting

upon those who hold him in fear;

his justice reaches out to children’s children

when they keep his covenant in truth,

when they keep his will in their minds.

 

                   Ps. 103:17-18

 

Oh, but they are small!

My kids, racing past the kitchen cabinets—

will they grow, and pair,

give birth?  As I have.

Will they listen to one word I say?

How can they keep a covenant

when they don’t remember their promise

to throw fruit roll wrappers away?

Lego men, pens and a pillow fort on the floor testify:

they have more on their minds than You!

 

I try for them, to remember,

cajole and admonish.

I bark, a guard dog

protecting their future.

But my tone seems thin while my hands

work: prepare their clothes, clean her ear piercings,

put sunblock on his scar—her medicine, his

wheatless meals. What must I know

to fulfill my covenant with you?

I’m afraid I fail.

I do fear the Lord.


-- By:  Ms. Karen Jessee, OP - - a member of the Dominican Laity, St. Mary Magdelene Group in Raleigh, NC.  She writes and teaches, living with her husband and children near Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

 

Face to Face Archive

Please click on a Title below for Karen's "Prayer Poems":
(The newest ones are listed first.)