'All thing hath Being by the love of God'

Christian Century, May 17, 2003 by Willow Hambrick

'All thing hath Being by the love of God'

--Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, V

   An old woman in curlers and scarf,
   pastel housedress and slippers,
   tomorrow's epiphany under wraps,
   walks her round-shouldered walk,
   dabbing the shimmer of dippity-do
   leaking down her salient brow,
   her earnest, powder-cracked face
   and sanguine cheeks absorbing
   what light is offered by a low-hung,
   but rising, Sabbath eve moon.

   Dust kicks up as a boom box blares
   the music of tanked teens hell bent
   on a Saturday night; one cautious glance
   she gives to those who would profane
   her weekly constitutional. And then,
   I see her wave at those boys, kindly,
   the wave of a woman who is able to see
   eternity in hazelnuts; the wave of a woman
   who softens the corner where she stands,
   while her paschal curls prepare to spring.