Waiting

This silent spring is not silent.
Cardinals and robins who spent
winter away from the winds and ice
now bob and sing as if in paradise.

I wait for the Provider of Peace to say
rise up, come out, go on your way.
But I hear only the caw of crows,
the whisper of a stream that flows,

geese going, coming, breaking
the gray of heaven, wings unfolding.
The All Generous One is waiting for me
to break the silence, patiently, patiently.

By Patrick Harkins

(Patrick Harkins is a member of St. Joseph University Parish in Terre Haute.) †

The Criterion