THE YOUTH OF AGE

(Praying at Seventy)

All my life, it now seems to me,
I have had clear sight of God.
Like currents of air, spirits gliding upward,
I have been in flight.

The clouds form and reform,
they race across the sky and swell in stillness, all aglowing,
and they say: Remember God!
As my physical eyes fail,
my inner eyes open to wonder.

As my bodily ears strain,
my God-antennae are instantly alert
and announce: She, your God, is here.
As my brain is sometimes befuddled,
my heart leaps in elation at the robin's antics.

As my feet stumble, my spirit races ahead:
Come on, Come on, there is so much more.
As my hands grow numb, and sometimes sore,
my touch grows softer, sensitive, more grace-filled.

My senses may dim,
but my whole being seems alive
and shouts: 'Live it up.'
I seem now to be bathed in light.

I say to myself:
'Now I am living in the shadow of the Living Light'.
I used to worry about sin;
now I have no time for this.

When I pick up the Scriptures,
the light streams out at me.
The words tremble with life,
and shout: 'Abundant Life.'

My memory is memorising:
all the strands are being drawn together.
I can now say:
'I see, I hear, I know, I smile, I love.'

I see new words, hear new music, know in deeper tones,
I smile at my dreams, I love with the trees.

I see bright flames coming from human lips.
I see rippling water flowing in endless light.
No container on earth can keep this flowing.

All my life is now here in the palm of my hand:
I am child, maid, woman, crone.
I live it all, now more fully.

How can I now describe my lightsome life?

I see
I yearn yet.

~Hildegarde of Bingen

Source: FB via DagMar Dederichs