This day,
this wonderful day,
we celebrate
with the orioles of the world
and the bluejays,
mice, squirrels and burrowed bears.
Long-buried secrets poke from the rocks:
we are loved
all day
all year.
Don’t believe me, yet it’s so.
It is neither a sleep we anticipate,
nor a forgetting,
but an overjoyed homecoming
to loving arms that ache
from being spread so long.
Here in this winter night
is held the hope of every creature,
a light beginning to grow–
to burst upon the horizon
like a shell splintering hell
freeing its slaves
blinking into the light.
Don’t believe me, please do not.
Believe your own heart
hoping for something you cannot name.
Why do you hope
if nothing is there?
You hope because the light
has nestled in your veins,
is pouring through your frame,
seeking only “yes” from you
to flower a brand-new miracle.
With Mary, we say “yes.”
© Susanne Donoghue, 2014