The sight of Michael after many months

His smile was miles large when he spied me

and I loved him when I saw him

when I hugged him

and pressed upon his cheek

And he kept smiling when I left

when I asked him to greet her

his Max with whom he dwells

for he smiled as if I meant something to him

something I can't elucidate

except within the smile that knew 

we meant something to each other

if only at this moment for a moment

for tomorrow may bring another tale

It is today that counts 

and smiles bear the proof

*Thoughts of Gregory Wolfe:

-Conservative Christianity does not have a monopoly on sentimentality.  There are myriads forms of it out there.

-The great theologian, Cardinal Henri de Lubac, once wrote: "There is nothing more demanding than the taste for mediocrity.  Beneath its ever  moderate appearance there is nothing more intemperate; nothing surer in its instinct; nothing more pitiless in its refusals.  It suffers no greatness, shows beauty no mercy."

-Perhaps, at its best, sentimentality strives for something approximating the theological virtues of hope and love.  But in refusing to see the world as it is, sentimentality reduces hope to nostalgia.  And in seeking to escape ambiguity and the consequences of the Fall, it denies the heart of love, which is compassion.  Unless compassion means the act of suffering with the other in their otherness, it becomes meaningless.  Well-intentioned as the purveyors and consumers of sentiment may be, they still want the luxury of an emotion without having to pay the price for it. 

*So I Say GOODBYE

                                                                            Nov 20

I'm going in2 this not knowing what I'll find

but I've decided 2 follow my heart and abandon my mind

and if there be pain I know that at least I gave my all

and its better 2 have loved and lost than 2 not love at all

In the morning I may wake 2 smile or maybe 2 cry

but first 2 those of my past I must say good bye

-Tupac Shakur