Advent Poem by John O'Brien: Attentiveness

Hampstead Heath ICN/JS

Kimmage asylum room my monastic cell
And your cell will teach you everything;
Say the Desert Fathers - and Mothers too.
Becoming attentive to my own Autumn
Invitation to hear what my soul is saying.

Easing off that narcotic habit of hurrying
On to an ever-receding, incomplete future
Recovering an internal stability of purpose
Displayed in a new kind of vulnerability
Within my fragile temple to the living God.

Time to sort out what is real, what is false,
Jettison once important, compelling things
In holy conversation with the living Word,
A spirit-stirring that will quicken my soul.

Fr John O'Brien is an Irish Spiritan missionary.