this water is blessed, twice
this water is real. no doubt about feeling wet.
by comparison, are words more real, more
than mere ghosts of ink on paper, or less,
more electrical bonds, no matter how
do they make a difference. is that the measuring
stick. this bottle is five inches tall
is that tall enough for a miracle?
how tall are you
From February 11 to July 16, 1858, Saint Bernadette Soubirous met the Blessed Virgin Mary eighteen times at the Grotto at Lourdes, France. Despite the Church’s and town’s growing hesitation surrounding the Grotto’s apparitions and cures, an ecclesiastical committee declared the apparition as authentic in 1860.
image: Wikipedia © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro / CC BY-SA 3.0
remember, nowhere do I say what to believe. did you see the elephant
wordswerepoemsfirst.com 
I’m drawn to the questioning here – the philosophy of form and faith so deftly posed right up to the last.
p.s. I can’t see the image though – did you make it featured? perhaps you made it seen/unseen just to further pose the miracle of visions
p.p.s. I once had such a bottle and cured my goldfish with the water!
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Thank you Laura. There is indeed quite a whirlwind going on inside this one. Suppose the question at the end – how tall is Your Faith inside Your Life – you know, you gotta say for yourself. Actually surprise this poem came to Light, but it did. I try not to suppress.
The image (hidden only from first sight) link is inside the small text at the bottom “Grotto at Lourdes”. Wanting to put words first, image second this time. Also my suggestion, what Derick DelGaudio has to say about the elephant in case you haven’t visited there.
Faint memories too. Doing this I thought what was that movie seen so so long ago? Found it (YouTube), The Song of Bernadette. Hollywood, maybe. But view with an open heart, most said was right on point to my sensibilities. Pleasantly surprised.
And yea, bottles of that very water. I looked that up too. May get one – why – as an “act” of faith to sit beside my own doubts about my life. Choice, you know. TYL
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You are so good at evoking strong emotions with your poetry. This one has me thinking about the measurement of one’s faith…of how we can determine the truth for ourselves? I was raised in a very strict Baptist church and I felt ashamed all the time. To think a curse word was to go to hell, I was told. It took years of being away from the church to begin answering my own questions about how big my bottle is and how tall I am. Where do I fit in all the things? It’s a question I do believe I’ll be chasing until my last breath.
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Thank you for a thoughtful response Bridgette. No great shakes my religious upbringing – Mom didn’t really care. Said take a look, then you decide. I didn’t experience any life in that church. Ignored it for a long while, then an atheist (no big deal), then a buddhist (a better deal), then by a back door, connected by a man who lived his faith, not just as a Sunday performance, but every day with everyone. I resisted because of history, but then I understood, seeing how I really honestly felt so it was “my own”. Real faith is about that process I think. Meaningless until you come to it by your own understanding and experience.
Of course I can’t answer questions for someone other than me. Other than to say Love is the unconditional acceptance of another. Stand there and all else comes to rest, no struggle.
Bridgette from the beginning I have seen how you open your heart. Like faith, that makes things “possible”. Maybe you don’t always see that for yourself. But I do. I trust you – no matter what. I’ve been blessed to know several few folks I experience that way. You are one. Trust yourself.
I have looked and thought and studied, years and years. Think I have a pretty good sense of things, but yes, more yet to learn, more room to open one’s heart. That’s why the Dalai Lama still meditates. Yet do good work while you learn is also right. Love is not something we own, it’s something to be given away, or more accurately, allow it to pass through us. Be like a window. That’s how I want to be.
—–
Did you ever see that In & Of Itself video? The last few minutes of that presentation, his engagement with the audience – it says so much how we can be with each other. Beautiful. Powerful. I look and they all look beautiful to me, doubts included. That applies right here too.
See, this is why I am practicing being more brief, as with my 30 poems thing, huh!
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What a thoughtful and beautiful response! “Love is the unconditional acceptance of another. Stand there and all else comes to rest, no struggle.” This! I try so hard to be kind and lead with love. It’s become the essence of how I express religion/faith. I want people to leave my presence feeling uplifted in some way, even if it makes me seem silly, naive, or over-the-top.
Thank you for saying such nice things about me. It really makes my day. I love the image of love as a window, how it can pass through us. I’ve not seen the In & Of Itselft video, but I found it on Hulu and added it to my queue to watch this morning when I break from writing to eat breakfast. It sounds like something I need to experience. Have a beautiful day!
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