Sunday, May 31, 2009

Come, Holy Spirit

I was wondering what I might post today, on the Feast of Pentecost. It seemed like it should be something special, something worthy of the gift of the Holy Spirit. I always used to struggle with that gift, didn't really get it. I remember when I was young and writing religious music, I composed a song for Pentecost Sunday, but it was a stretch for me, something I had to do to match up to the other feast days I'd celebrated in song. Now that I am older, the Spirit just seems to make more spiritual sense to me. I am more aware of the movement of the Spirit in my own life and in the lives of others. I am comforted by the fact that I am never alone, that God is always with me, surrounding me, blowing through me, hovering over me, whispering into my soul.

Last night, when I was at Mass listening to Father L. preach on Pentecost, he quoted a poem by Mexican poet and mystic Amado Nervo. When I heard it, I knew that this poem needed to be my Pentecost post, so here is the best translation I could find:

Alone we are only a spark,
But in the spirit we are a fire.
Alone we are only a string,
But in the spirit we are a lyre.
Alone we are only an anthill,
But in the spirit we are a mountain.
Alone we are only a drop,
But in the spirit we are a fountain.
Alone we are only a feather,
But in the spirit we are a wing.
Alone we are only a beggar,
But in the spirit we are a king.

3 comments:

Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle said...

Thanks for sharing that Mary. Happy Pentecost Sunday!

Roxane B. Salonen said...

Mary, I had never heard that before but it's beautiful! Thanks...

francis said...

Thanks, Mary, for revealing to us a 'new' poet whom lovers of God can take to heart. This poem just enters me and is so true. Assuming Amado Nervo wrote in his native spanish, the english translation is excellent: and kudos to the writer behind it.