*
Preface
1.
When we were boys
2.
One thing we knew was this
3.
On the way I saw
4
.
You brought us together
5.
Soon we began to sew
6.
You woke us from our lethargy
7.
You were so overwhelming
8.
When in Your presence
9.
In our minds there was no doubt
10.
We
were taught to walk
11.
We
never asked ourselves
12.
We were told to live i
n silence
13.
Black prayer books
14.
We never asked ourselves
15.
Do You remember
16.
We wondered how priests
17.
We knew You expected Latin
18.
Often when kneeling
19.
We were just boys
20.
How we learned Latin
21.
You speak a different language
22.
We read the books of silence
23.
The Argonauts
24.
What kind of swivel was it
25.
It was neither swivel of leash
26.
You haven't forgotten
27.
There was one among us
28.
Did You know that during a break
29.
Passers-by would stop
30.
Are those fatherly trees still standing
31.
Grace before meals
32.
Sometimes while kneeling
33.
Did You notice how
34.
There was one priest
35.
At night in dreams
36.
There were times when
37.
Silence was a columned hall
38.
I felt comfortable
39.
Who ever counted our passages
40.
You penetrated our narrow spaces
41.
Our hours passed on schedules
42.
After all these years the thought arises
43.
How it hurt on rainy days
44.
And all during those years
45.
How unencumbered we were
46.
They grounded us in the French traditions
47.
We were the children of Shawnees
48.
W
e hardly knew what to do
49.
But for those walls
50.
W
hy did they teach me
51.
De Diligendo Deo
52.
W
e came to You
53.
We tried so hard
54.
When they talked about formation
55.
They were careful
56.
After a while
57.
We
didn't sleep on briars
58.
When we passed them on the path
59.
Everything spoke to us about You
60.
You were not someone
61.
You remained plain for us
62.
You saved us from the weight of art
63.
You were never mean with us
64.
We never cringed before You
65.
You made us proud
66.
We had a unique orientation
67.
I can remember thinking
68.
We wanted to hear someone talk about You
69.
On thinking back I remember
70.
It was as if You had torn down
71.
There were robins nesting
72.
When You kept me behind the thin glass
73.
And didn't you grow tired
74.
What compass could we have used
75.
Had we been born five years earlier
76.
Could it be that You spoiled us
77.
We ached to be monks in white cowls
78.
And time ran straight down
79.
Where is that shiny little tuning fork
80.
Remember how I thought
81.
Th
érèse
of Lisieux
82.
When we walked out on the path
83.
I was disappointed when I found out
84.
Can You remember the rainy Saturday
85.
We had all the order
86.
How could I with all my boyish energy
87.
We lived with You in deep ravines
88.
We prayed best without words
89.
We felt the weight of Your presence
90.
It wa
s
n't a shudder that went through us
91.
On those rare occasions
92.
Sisley
93.
It was hard not to need You
94.
Once I fell in love with a tree
95.
We cupped each day in se
a
mless hands
96.
We were but teen
aged boys
97.
We didn't need Theology
98.
Later we wore cinctures
99.
How many poems have mothers sighed
100.
If only it could be still again
101.
Can You still hear how
groups of
boys
102.
In rooms where candles burn
103.
Do You remember the warm evening
104.
Where is the place where I can stand
105.
The winter is past, the ice is breaking
Copyright © 2003
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In the Wheat ~ Songs in your Presence
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