In Lent

The way is long.

The climb is hard.

Upwards.

But pain

Pulls down-

Body and spirit

Pull down

On the upwards climb.

The summit is yet ahead.

I cannot see it.

Others

Who have been there

Tell me it is ahead.

They tell me:

"Keep on!"

This I know:

The mists part

From time to time.

I glimpse

The landscape below.

I have inhabited

That landscape

For many years.

I have known its parts.

Parts I know well.

All its parts

I have loved.

Knowing it well

Does not mean

I know it whole.

(We can love completely

Without knowing wholly.)

Even now,

In the glimpses

Through the mists,

I see its wholeness

Without knowing it whole.

The way is hard.

The climb is long.

There is joy in the pain.

There is peace in the downward view.

Holy Saturday, 2012