Letting Go
the sword promised Mary
is not hers alone but
belongs to every
mother to whom is
born a child of destiny
which is to say
all of them
having carried as part
of her body
of her very self
the tearing of birth
signals the beginning
of joyful travail which
is the only way to release
and endure - joy being
capacity for what is
only occasionally happy
and so the release
necessary to life begins
small and large losings
on the way to idealized launching
only to realize…
the connection sustains
the losing persists and
deepens and spreads
such is the destiny of
a child born turning
outward to a world
needing their unique
selves to share in its saving
and such is the promise of
a sword dividing a Son dying
a mother weeping but…
who would not finally
have it any other way.
He was not the only one
who needed joy to
endure the cross to
endure the losses to
learn the multiplication
of such division.
