“O eternal truth and true love and beloved eternity: You are my God.” – St. Augustine
My God, who from eternity made truth,
You loved me from the start unendingly
Though I am mortal, false, and unlovely,
And always (for my heart is hard) do both
Deny your law and by rude vanity
Inscribe my sin in stone.
Soften me, God,
Almighty Trinity, who by the Son
Wrote timeless truth and love in flesh and blood,
And spoke your peace by fire and wind and dove.
Make me to know your true, immortal love
And love you truly, O Eternity,
That I may praise
The Holy Trinity
Through all my days.
[Excerpted from Ms. Erlandson’s book These Holy Mysteries.]
Cynthia Erlandson is a poet and fitness professional. Her three collections are These Holy Mysteries, poems for the church year; Notes on Time, a tribute to the themes of time and music; and Foundations of the Cross and Other Bible Stories, which was published last year by Wipf and Stock. Her poems have appeared in The Book of Common Praisehymnal, First Things, The Society of Classical Poets, The Catholic Poetry Room, Modern Age, and elsewhere. She is a Top Four winner of the 2023 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest.