Words are swirling
Like leaves,
Lifted heavenward,
On bursts of emotion,
Only to settle quietly,
As the storm of love passes
Into Abiding Presence.
© 2012 Joann Nelander
Love
All posts tagged Love
A desert You prepare for me.
In solitude You allure me.
An encounter awaits me,
Your heart waiting for mine.
A thousand betrayals,
Hasn’t dimmed Your vision
For Love’s elect.
©2012 Joann Nelander
A child lost,
A child stolen,
A child abandoned,
But not by Love.
Love held his hand,
As Death pursued.
Love clutched his life
To hold him in her heart.
When all doors shut,
When clouds descended,
When law conspired,
When men called evil good.
Love shared his pain.
Love healed.
Love fostered love.
Prepared a home.
Love opened the earth
To receive the blood
Of innocence,
Once more.
Love found a way,
To thwart the grave,
To forgive, to forget,
To encompass and enfold.
Love builds a mansion
With waiting rooms,
For mother, father
And lineage long.
From Adam past
Unto blessed Eternity,
Love reclaims,
Love invites to Mercy feast.
Love simply loves,
Sinner, martyr, saint,
The lost, the stolen, the abandoned,
Now espoused.
© 2012 Joann Nelander
Did you laugh?
Did you dance?
You were there
I remember.
The invitation,
Sent from my heart,
Was as personal
As a dream.
Hopes,
Whispered and shared,
Then tucked away
With our days,
The stuff of weavers,
Spinning bright threads
Running their course
Replete with expectations
Not to be denied.
Full of welcome,
An invitation to dance,
With the bride
Loving her groom
In the Mystery of You,
Did you dance,
Did you laugh,
When our love
Blossomed and bloomed,
Bearing children
To delight our hearts,
Gladdening our garden
With sweet enchantment.
Today I pick flowers,
Memories like posies,
In colored bouquets.
Today our hearts are full.
Today we celebrate,
And spread our blanket
On grassy meadows.
Resting and remembering
All happiness,
And passing sorrow,
Shared and savored,
As water turned wine.
Come and laugh.
Come and dance.
Years like water,
Running a course.
Years full and fleeting,
Waltzing and jigging
Spent in embrace.
Our dance goes on,
On to trip through the night,
Marathon run,
Accompanied with music
Floating on Life’s breezes.
Two become one,
Dancing in You.
By Joann Salerno Nelander, Bride
I just want to rest here,
In a place beyond tears.
When You see me,
In my life’s blood,
You will not pass me by.
Shepherd,
That you are,
Lift me to Your shoulder.
Carry me
The rest of the way.
I consent to Your ministries,
Trust in Your mercies.
As Your strong arms
Enfold me.
I am comfort,
Through and through,
For I will to be
One with You,
And You have given me
My heart’s desire.
My dear little Saint,
What a beautiful hedge
He placed around you,
Mother and Father,
Sisters and Faith,
Love to grow you,
And hardship
To steel you.
Holiness drew you
As family ties
Formed you for God,
And set you free
To take flight
In the air of Carmel.
Little Saint be to me
Mother, Father, Sister
And my school of Faith.
With you like Solomon,
I learn to sing,
“Draw me; we will run
after Thee
To the odor
Of Thy ointments.”
You are God
Wholly Other,
Yet Your humanity
Embraces me
By sacrament.
You are the Head,
The Church, Your Mystical Body,
And in it
I wash my robes,
To take on
The Infant Life of Christ,
Wholly dependent,
Yet gifted
With abundant blessing.
You are God,
Wholly Other,
My Father receives me,
Clothed in the living Flesh
Of the beloved Son.
Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
I press my ear
To Your Heart, my Jesus.
With the beating rhythm,
That bounds within Your Breast,
My Spirit takes wing,
And rushes to Your Side,
That pierced and open side,
That Gate of Heaven.
“Enter,” You invite.
Leaving without my fear,
I enter in.
I am all ear,
You, all Heart
And Fire,
A furnace of Love.
My spirit faints
With longing.
A voice of spirit
Reassures and comforts.
In flight,
My soul alights,
Coming to rest,
As coming home.
You have always
Known me.
In an instant,
I know You,
And, only now,
Know me,
In consummate repose.
Glowing, two hearts beating as one,
Union of spirit,
Mine yielding to Yours,
To become truly myself.
Complete and Resplendent,
As the dawn of New Day,
Colored by a thousand rainbows,
Breaking ranks
And melting,
In a perfusion of light,
Dancing across my soul,
Reverberating, throughout the Universe,
In happy harmony.
O, Hallowed One,
We now are Three,
Your completeness
Embraces me.
I know all of heaven,
In knowing Thee.
Heaven has made room for me,
A sacred chamber,
And a mansion,
Raised in Your Rising in me.
I hear my new name
And am transfigured,
As You speak it.
Cor ad cor loquitor.
Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
Love and praise hold hands.
Happy hearts rejoice.
Song rises from the multitude,
As lives lived in faith believing.
The Just sing with their being,
Resplendent and resounding love.
Praise embodied in saintly flesh.
New song, New Day,
New creation,
In harmony with Heaven
A symphony of faithful, forgiven witness.
Alleluia.
Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
Lord of all joy,
Lord of all sorrow,
Lord of plenitude and might,
Lord of hunger and suffering,
In Your Humanity,
You embraced all,
And elevated Mankind,
Giving the highest dignity
To our race,
Which, without You,
Is little more than beastly,
Roaming and devouring
Without hope or holiness.
Your Father waits
To embrace His wayward sons.
We, the Prodigal, are welcomed
To His open arms,
Arms You, Jesus, gave
The Father on Your Cross.
There with abandonment of Spirit,
Willingly nailed to His Will,
You raised helplessness
To heights of Mystery,
And consummate fulfillment.
We rush to You,
In delight,
As the Spirit
Once rushed upon David,
Caught up to the heavens,
Returning love for the Love
That saves and frees.
Alleluia!
Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
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