we write back and forth

with greetings of friendship

at holidays, yearly come, yearly gone

while longing for one

our smile is broad

viewing a signature of old

but wait we will

till our eyes spy another

unsure of our bonding

while longing for one

we melt into our ages

our flesh altering with time

doing the predictable ev'ryday

till a face stands at our door

a stranger-friend ringing from our porch

awaiting an answer 

unsure of our bonding

while longing for one

so how shall i smile

as i stare at the door

unsure of our bonding

since the longing is gone?

*When death is perceived as extinction, death dominates life, and paralyzes creative action. When death is seen as a crossroad, we can anticipate it many times in our lives, by consciously handing our lives in trust to the Mystery we know intuitively as the Source and Ground of our existence.

-Mary Evelyn Jegen

*Every crossroad implies a cross.

-Mary Evelyn Jegen

*The cross remains as witness to one historic crossroads, where the cross as instrument of torture became symbol of a great rescue of the human race.  Christian theology has found in the mystery of the cross on which Jesus died an inexhaustible well of meaning.  A medieval Latin author wrote: "Crux stat dum volvitur mundus" (The cross stands there as the world turns).  What accounts for the transformation of the cross from reminder of gross cruelty to sign of transcendent love is the way Jesus of Nazareth dealt with the crossroads in his own life.  His test, as ours, had to do with power and relationships.  He could have joined, perhaps, even led, a group of insurrectionists aiming to liberate themselves from the Roman yoke by their imitation of the Roman means.  Instead he chose another way, one that went to the heart of the matter and revealed the potential of love and truth at the crossroads.

-Mary Evelyn Jegen