I especially like to walk the dog on mornings
so ordinary as this one.
Small wonder that he is happily sniffing his way
across the everyday suburban street.
Some whiff or other is always of interest—
for him it’s the daily news.
Oh, I guess there are such a great number
of things to ponder, gifts
that unwrap themselves before my eyes
each and every day of this
most amazing life.
There are, I think, too many to name here,
and yet it seems worth trying
to list a few that come to mind.
While I leave the road where it is
and breath this air
fresh as the big-leafed magnolia,
seven things seem like a lucky number of wonders:
That geese can fly in the dark of night.
That the sage is blooming in the herb garden.
That the black-capped chickadees
found the nesting box, even though I moved it.
That there are animals and emails and internet.
That there is such a thing as Holy Matrimony.
That life is exactly what it is.
That there are museums and monuments and music
and green, green grass.
The Chapel and the Ring first appeared in Nine Days—poems remembering Pope John Paul II (2015).
Catherine Hamilton, a Catholic freelance writer, member of Catholic Writers Guild, and Benedictine Oblate, has written articles for magazines and newspapers including The Polish American Journal, The Chicago Polish Daily and The Catholic Sentinel. She is author of Nine Days–Poems Remembering Pope John II (2015), a collection of fifty-one poems inspired by the poignant hours before and after the death of Karol Wojtyla. In the year 2000, Hamilton met Pope John Paul II in his private library while on pilgrimage. Five of Hamilton’s translated poems have been published in Poland by Zeszyty Karmelitanskie, a publication of the Carmelites in Poznan.