"mercy"

i'm having a little difficulty getting my brain to kick into gear these spring break days -- whenever i try, i get the sound my neighbor's car made all morning: eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-EEEEEEE. cough, splutter, die.

but: i spent a lovely afternoon with my friend nancy, and she pulled out a book she'd recently found. and i recognized it as one i have had for several years and haven't gone back to in much too long. we both love this poem so much -- and it really does speak for itself. there's no need to say much more about religion, spirituality, suffering, grief -- this poem does it all in such a short space. i am stunned by it, every time i read it.


Mercy

~ Jo McDougall

The night after his two children burned
in a frame house in a searing drought,
the man, the neighbors said,
wandered through his yard
murmuring "Lord have mercy."
And the Lord sent rain.


(published in Dirt by Jo McDougall, Pittsburgh: Autumn House Press, 2001).