Not quite poem

Years back, in the early days of blogging* there was a tradition called "The Blogger's Silent Poetry Reading, in Honor of St. Bridget" and the idea was you shared a favorite poem on February 2, which is (depending on what you observe) Candlemass day, Groundhog day, or the day after St. Brigid's (or Bridget's) day.

* Well, "lifestyle blogging," I guess that's what you would call knitblogs and reading blogs? I don't think the political bloggers or similar did this sort of thing much

I've done this for years and kind of don't want to give up the tradition even though I am probably the only one still doing it. But I'm coming up a little dry. I thought of using the Auden poem that was quoted in the first Inspector Gamache novel ("Still Life") that I am reading, but I don't know that I feel that much affinity for it. (I like SOME Auden)

But instead, I'll offer this. It's very short and is probably not really a poem, but it's one of those sayings that I have taken and tried to remember as a touchstone:

"All shall be well.
And all shall be well.
And all manner of things shall be well."

- St. Julian of Norwich

She was an anchorite (meaning, essentially, she consented to be closed up in a small cell where she prayed constantly). It is thought she chose this after losing her family (and perhaps a husband) to the plague. She was in many ways a mystic, and many of her revelations are about Divine love and are deeply optimistic.

Which is something I think this world needs - optimism - and it's something I need a lot of the time. One of the pieces of jewelry I wear frequently is a pendant that is a tiny silver moebius inscribed with that famous saying and a little cross. It's something I often choose to wear on days where I feel I need strength. (I wore it under my blouse - the chain is too short for it to work with the collar on that blouse - the day I did the message in church).

It is hard to remember that on a cosmic sense, "all shall be well" when you're mired in the business of everyday life. (Perhaps it is easier for one to have divine visions and to contemplate eternity when one is in the same place all the time).