Since the World Needs Blessing

 Saint Benin's Church Window, St. Patrick

Kilbennan, Ireland

County Galway, Ireland by Andreas F. Borchert

Since the World Needs Blessing

Ay Be Blessin' Thee

Held by Ye Heavenly Mother

Are Ye

From the day you were born;

Not just for the road ahead

But Grace for the road behind;

In gratitude for Thy father and Mother

That bore ye whether

Mornin' or night;

And what of luck, me darlin',

if not the Grace you

live out under God

In the Trinity Three in

 Thy daily walk,

Not ever proud 

But as quiet an' purposeful as the birds

Soaring above the sea wall,

Making no fuss

Of their flight or wings;

But prayin' as ye go;

and livin' that prayer:

Blessing as you meet

All Irish children 

And those that aren't:

Ye are blessed, Ye

are worthy 

of Abundant Grace!

Look at your face

in the glass;

Put a smile on God's 

Eternal Blessing 

for all of ye days!

Amen.

By Connie Nelson Ahlberg

March 16, 2013

Like Driftwood Left

Archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel with Tobias

Like Driftwood Left

Dear Once-hurting Angel,

You must have wondered 

as your spirit ascended above

your body in death

Why, I'm being left,

left slumped over in a car

towed to an impound lot;

or lying in a wood

no one hoped you'd find;

Or bundled in a trunk; or flushed

out to sea with no trace;

Even my bones

are not together

you say;

I'm being left

strangled and mutilated;

How strange to die

Like things, left discarded

like driftwood; 

like driftwood no angels

seemed to bless;

Holy Girls, Youngest of Women, 

who never dreamed they'd 

 lose their life with someone they knew, and 

be discarded like last-weeks garbage,

Or simply spend time in a park

with the wrong boy;

And how did you die, Angel? 

A chorus of words calls back:

Mutilated, stabbed, or shot--

You spoke with a clear voice;

If angels weren't there

in your hidden seclusion; if you felt them not:

I'm praying them where you laid;

Praying them

Where you rose &

Where you lived and played;

You were made for joy

and prayers,

not control and violation

a male thought was

your due or because he 

was in the mood;

You've left us numb,

Left us hallow:

murder after murder

so quickly forgotten

because inside--we're horrified;

But something has happened

to us now - all the remaining

women

We feel, too--

Left like Driftwood

on the beaches of the world.

by Connie Nelson Ahlberg

2/25/2013

It's been a struggle to 

even keep up with the 

violence against women

in the Twin Cities and

beyond:

Anna Hurd 

Brittney Clardy

Kira Trevino

Zahra Baker's 

Skull was found in NC,

a young girl;

they're all young girls.

I had to write

to them and

about them:

Darlings all.

Prayer of the Ambitious

Crows Lake in North Sikkim by Carsten Nebel

Prayer of the Ambitious

My life lays before me

like an endless

dawn

and I am drawn
into my days

with total faith
that I shall win

a prized life;

Remind me 

You are timeless

beyond my endless dawn

and for wisdom,

I, all ambition,

need only draw

upon Thee.

By Connie Nelson Ahlberg

River Notes: Making A Life

River Notes

A wise woman said to 

her rapids' team:

you can form your body

round the flat rocks, getting

through while amazing 

your mind; you can be lucid

like a lake of compelling darkness

that is an old friend seductively

beckoning you forward; but the true

wonder always is the sounds of the river,

the wafting of the water like it's own symphony

and you can flow into the vibrations

and make a life.

February 9, 2013

Connie Nelson Ahlberg

Prayers of the Children

The Glorification of Mary by Botticelli

Prayers of the Children:

All Divinity Blessed

Children on the altar

Petitions in hand

Teachers standing there

Microphone in hand

With utter sweetness asking:

For the sick and the lonely

For the elderly and those departed;

Remember us, Lord and Mary, and

For New Life just started;

Heal us,

Gift of Peace,

Be our salvation

Ever Rising 

Under dear feet beneath

Grant lasting pardon;

Mercy, the gift of your hands,

We offer our joys, hurt, our sufferings,

So our transformation 

Stands; 

For lifting others

We aren't changed alone,

Save by loving, caring for each other:

Accept 

these offerings for

We are praying

  each other Home.

Written January 31, 2013

by Connie Nelson Ahlberg

All Rights Reserved.

White Gloves, Wide Brim Hats

Little girl in kindergarten uniform in Japan

Even after only two weeks in Japan, it's been an adjustment coming back to the States.
I literally looked up white gloves when I got home, wishing I still had some. I was comforted
that they are still available.

In Tokyo I saw young girls in navy uniforms with wide brim hats on one of my sojourns. They took my breath away. So much so, I failed to get the picture I wanted, I was too transfixed. There must have been eight or so who descended a staircase to the train, and I was--too late.

The first shock coming back was landing at Chicago's O'Hare airport. An attendant just stared at me and said: Next. She told me I was in the wrong line. I apologized. No one bowed, no white gloves.

In fact the young man in security was most abrupt, touching his chest after moving me along with great haste.

"Maybe he has indigestion," I said myself, trying to give him a pass.

When I got to my gate in Chicago, I was stunned. The passengers looked as disheveled as the seating was decrepit. The chairs should have been removed five years ago: the metal was chipped and unsightly. No one was well dressed. It was a motley crew, and definitely not the rock group.

I ran to the grocery store late tonight; it was almost empty. I nearly had to enter the freezer to find what I wanted, finding the product only after moving what was in front of it.
One lone clerk was standing ready to check you out. So many were forced
to check their own groceries. In Japan there are eight smiling faces in a row.

They bow so much in Tokyo that you bow back--with joy.

After grabbing my dilapidated cart I pushed my way to the parking lot. An attendant was collecting carts wearing his night-time orange vest as if he was hunting. Wordlessly
he took the two carts in the carrel and shoved everything along. Nary a bow. I
guess he was too young, cold, or tired to acknowledge another human nearby.

Driving home I decided I'd rather pay the $75.00 for the foundation make-up I forgot in exchange for the loving-kindness that went along with it.

Moreover I've vowed to clean up my act, get new shoes, get rid of my second-hand purple coat.

I saw a diamond ankle bracelet on a young woman as she walked the considerable distance to one of the shines in spike heels. A few wore traditional Japanese kimonos. No one was loud or beating their chest for attention. Most wore black coats, with their throngs of dark hair forming a sea under the majestic trees that formed a canopy on the walk. It was the New Year. People were there to show their respect in prayerful recognition at the Shinto shrine.

In contrast, my 6'5'' blond son walked with his fair-skinned daughter perched on his
shoulders, singing and swaying to a Wisconsin song they love.
It didn't fit, but it did.

I can't make the U.S. as polite as Japan. I can only seek to live graciously myself.
This I know. How lovely to be reminded of the simplicity of white gloves.
How softening to feel the respect we all so deeply deserve.

Mori-san

Beginner's Mind

If you go away, you want to come home different. And you are different. You've absorbed
new food, new sights, and experiences you couldn't have had if you'd stayed home.

Walt Whitman said: I am larger than I thought. I didn't know I held so much goodness.

If you go away you want to come home different. So you bring your new-found wisdom with
you. Wisdom you learned from steep hills and long walks, a tall son, a warm daughter
in-law, an enthusiastic granddaughter, and a 21 month-old grandson who can now say his
name: Hammy.

You don't want to be a stick-in-the-mud.You down sushi and apologize for nearly causing
a flood in the shower since you didn't turn the water off. (How could you? There were so
many bells and whistles. And you were nervous during the demo.)

You ask for a taxi when you're tired but walk on when the answer is, "Oh, no!"
You suck it up while pushing the four year-old in the stroller. You are better for it.

After realizing you can't be what you're not, you try to be the best that you are.

Since your gosling imprint says you overstay your welcome after 20 minutes,
you surrender, and attempt a Buddha walk for two weeks. You succeed. You fail.
You live with it. They live with you.

Inexperience is the mother of a thousand miles. You try a spicy beef noodle soup. It blows
your head off. But you return and order it again.

Part of your stress in leaving was knowing you'd have to deal with all your frailties when
you arrived. But a wise woman said, remember you are going where the energy is lighter.
So you said the words: I am light. I am light. And you see the lightness in the Japanese people.

You survive a long walk even getting lost because of the kindness of strangers who tell
you how to get home. One even runs after you when you still thought you were right!

You take lessons on how to bow. No, not that way, you're told. Hands to your side and the
deeper, the lower your bow, the more respect. You bow to everyone.

You meet a tour guide called Mori-san. You ask him: what would you like a poet to know
about Tokyo and the Japanese people?

Mori-san pauses, then says: The Japanese people are kind and clean.
You can't understand the last word but then realize what is being said.

Kind and clean. Many lessons summed up in two words.

On the All Nippon Airline, you realize the flight attendants are so impeccably trained, so
graciously turned out, that they were near-geishas. They are smiling. They are light. Yet
they are warm. They are everything Mori-san said and more.

It took courage to go. It took courage to leave and come home. You did it.

I bow to Tokyo, Mori-san, Moto Azabu, all of Japan, and my host family.
I am forever in their debt.