we reach 70

and our body shouts aloud

"You will die"

embarrassed

we swallow pills 

take longer walks

support a doc

failing nonetheless

hankering for a longer stay

we arrive too soon

the surprise taking our breath away

we die, mourning not our loss

arriving at sanctity so ever slow

life, shorter that we thought

continues longer than we'll know

but we've entered a better place

a space that God knows best

where we can smoke our cigarettes

*In any serious spiritual life we must come to a gulf that cannot be crossed from our side.  We must find ourselves stripped of all expectations and aids, all human programs and procedures, as we stand at the edge of the ocean of infinity.  Our finite ladders - of theology, of spiritual exercises, of psychological theory and political programs - do not reach across to the other side.  The gap is not bridged from where we stand.  We are emptied of all we possessed.  We discover our true poverty, our radical dependence on God.

-Ann Belford Ulanov



*Without addressing the spiritual needs of people, without focusing on all human relationships and personal trust, democracy was likely to be just as absurd as communism.
-Vaclav Havel