A poem to pass the time - 'Train' by Edwina Gateley

I have just had a very busy week - but my mind kept coming back to my blog - even when it should have been on other things! I think I am getting addicted!

But busyness has its penalties and, as a result, I am a little short on material at the moment. So I thought I would share with you a poem I have recently read. I love the writings of Edwina Gateley. My previous spiritual director pointed me in her direction, so I'm 'passing it on'.

This poem, called Train, can be found in her book Growing into God
ISBN 1-58051-080-9.

Train

Sitting on the subway train
shuddering its way
through the city of Chicago,
I saw the gang graffiti,
defiant and bold,
painted on the warehouse walls -
words of anger and violence -
screaming at the blank eyes
of innocent passengers
mindlessly staring out
through grubby windows.
And there,
in bright red,
surrounded by gang symbols,
four words stood large and bold:
"I LOVE YOU, MAMA."
My heart grieved
for unspoken story,
for the angry son who,
in the midst
of an act of rage,
remembered he loved him mama
and needed to tell
the world.
I hurt for his mama
the other woman,
who wept and prayed
that her son, so well beloved,
would be safe,
that her God,
ridiculously,
miraculously,
would raise him up
whole and healed.
And in the train, rocking,
I dreamed with her,
that God slipped through
graffitied walls and,
hot with a mother's love,
plucked up
and raised so high,
so gloriously,
the son
she loved so well.