Kathleen Lyons

AUTUMN

One by one

the leaves let go

Image: Joey Genovese/Unsplash

falling

to the waiting earth below.


The tree stands

naked

in its bereavement

tall and strong

it weather winter snows

knowing that when spring arrives

her beauty will return

clad in leaves of glorious green

a sheltering for the birds

a shade for summer’s sun.


Until October’s brush

paints her anew

with fiery reds and shimmering golds

and once again she stands

in full magnificence

yet knowing that

as the seasons change

she must again let go

and wait upon the spring.

-Sister Kathleen Lyons, csj

Sunrise

Rose-glow seeps into my slow wakefulness

Soft suffusions of a dawning day

Silently

Vermillion valets of the golden sun

Prepare the world anew

For glorious rising

Night darkness gone

Time leaps expectant of the coming morn

Waiting…until

Bright-white bursts the splendour of the day

Illuminating life with light

And God’s fidelity

Bow down my soul

And greet the promised day

Love’s herald

In reverent awe give thanks

And praise!

-Sister Kathleen Lyons, csj

Like the Dawn You Come

Image: Unsplash/Jakob Owens

Like the dawn you come

my God

silently

nudging my fogginess awake

into consciousness

again

like the dawn you come.


Like the dawn you come

my God

slowly

painting my inner landscape

with colour

brushing away the dark

again

like the dawn you come.

Image: Unsplash/Hide Obara

Like the dawn you come

my God

faithfully

calling my wayward heart

home to you

again

like the dawn you come.

Like the dawn you come

my God

gently

opening the curtains of my soul

to new day’s light

again

like the dawn you come.

Image: Unsplash/Simon Wilkes

Like the dawn you come

my God

surely

gracing me to know

your Presence

again

once again

my God

Like the dawn you come.

-Sister Kathleen Lyons, csj