CLIMBING

He was a priest.

He wanted to be one

ever since his second year in college ….

He was ordained at the age of 29 and immediately

was sent to study Church or Canon Law ….

He worked in the Bishop’s office for 22 years ….

He wore the French cuffs….

He always said the right stuff….
His shoes were always shiny black.

He never stepped on toes.
He was made a bishop in his early 50’s ….

He was moved to a bigger diocese at 55 ….

His desk was always neat ….

He never sat in the wrong seat ….

He was moved to Rome at 60 ….

He saw important people every day ….

He was made a Cardinal at 63 ….

He started to cry at 66 ….

He didn’t know what it was or why ….

He thought his empty room was too, too empty….

He thought the Roman ceilings were too, too high….

He picked up a book at an airport once -

Selected Poems by Langston Hughes

and read the following poem,

MOTHER TO SON

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks on it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor --

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

When there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down in the steps

‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now --

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

He put down the book

and cried all the way back to Rome -

wishing he had a home somewhere ….

He was named Pope the following year ….

He became a father and a mother

for the first time in his life ….

And he slowly knew why he was crying

and why he was climbing - - finally

after all those years  ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012