We thought it was something gentle—
The tiniest wisp of wind at the doorstep,
A sparrow lighting on manzanita in a sweet rain,
The scent of lilacs on a cool morning,
A candle glowing in a murky church before dawn.
How harmless this small spirit seemed,
This little breezy dove.
Where were we when She transfigured a subtle stranger,
Changed Paul of Tarsus to a man of fire,
Made over Teresa into a queen of quiet glory,
Showed Martin the path that Moses walked
To set his people free?
When we feel the breeze under a young pine,
Hear an owl calling out on a moonless midnight,
Smell the dark earth after a strong storm,
And sense the sacredness, She is present
In that moment of metanoia.
Rose Anna Higashi’s poetry journal, Blue Wings, was published by Paulist Press, and her novel, The Learning Wars, is available from iUniverse. Her poems have appeared recently in Americamedia.org., The Catholic Poetry Room, Agape Review, Poets Online, The Avocet, The Ekphrastic Review, and Scarlet Dragonfly Journal. Many of her lyric poems and haiku appear on her website, myteaplanner.com. Rose Anna is a retired professor of Literature who had a second career as a lay ecclesial minister in the Catholic Diocese of San Jose. She now lives in rural Hawaii with Wayne, her husband of sixty years.