November 18, 2011

My Journey to God

Royalty

I saw her fashionable footwear first,
Descending the stairs, next a
brilliantly-hued skirt
That swished with every step, and then
She appeared.

Smiling, beautiful, polished,
Hair corn-rowed, gold hoops in her ears,
She looked like African royalty,
And I felt small in her presence.

She was gracious—so gracious!—as
She worked with me. Kind, engaging,
Professional. I learned
She had traveled the world in her work.

I felt smaller and smaller in the presence
Of her educated, accomplished self.
She was so bright, so full of success!
I felt like nothing in comparison.

As I drove home, sad, I felt
The weight of life’s discrepancies,
And I wondered how, and why,
Life is so disparate.

And then, as I mused,
Sinking deeper and deeper into the great abyss
Of self-pity—Oh, I was wallowing there!—
I heard a beep.

Stopped at a light, I heard a beep,
Someone honking—at me? I froze,
Looked straight ahead, but then
A second beep, insistent.

I turned and looked against my will,
And saw, in the little red car next to me,
My son,
Smiling and waving at me.

In that instant,
As my heart leapt
At the unexpected sight of that
Dear face, I knew

That each soul’s path is that soul’s
Own, seen, given, by a wise and gracious God,
And suddenly
I felt like royalty.

By Linda Abner

(Linda Abner is a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis.)†

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