Flos florum

"Of all the flowers
from all the gardens
in all the world
you are the one
I choose,
over and over
and always."
These are the words by which I will know you.

Tenebrae

Dear one,
won't you leave the dark world
in which you live
for a bright one?
It is light which you crave,
The Light which will save you.
I was once there
where you are now.
I knew the blackness well;
I mistook it for my friend.
But a friend will always lead us
to the truth.
The darkness is a black lie.
Cast it away
for good.
Yes, for good.

Passing through the penumbra*

I see you there
in shadowed space,
midst dark and light:
eclipsed,
day and night
a tunnel
where you find yourself
since you lost yourself.
There is light at the end,
but how to find it?
There is a way.
I'll show you
if you will let me.

*penumbra--a partial shadow, as in an eclipse, between regions of complete shadow and complete illumination.

It never will be far

"Stars over snow,
And in the west a planet
Swinging below a star---
Look for a lovely thing and
you will find it,
It is not far---
It never will be far."

----Sara Teasdale

From Vespers for the Feast of the Holy Family

Qua vestra sedes floruit
Virtutis omnis gratia,
Hanc detur in domesticis
Referre posse moribus.

Your home it was a garden,
made glad with fairest flowers;
may life thus blossom sweetly'
in every home of ours.

But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.

Seven swords

"Over the iron forest
He saw Our Lady stand;
Her eyes were sad withouten art,
And seven swords were in her heart--
But one was in her hand."

--from G. K. Chesterton's "Ballad of the White Horse"

To feed thy soul

"If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And of thy meager store
Two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul."

--Sheikh Muslih-uddin Saadi Shirazi