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

BAKING

He loved baking bread -

kneading, rolling, squeezing,

pushing his body into the dough -

and then to hear at supper,

at table, “More bread!

This is delicious! Thank you!”

And he would make extra loaves

of bread for neighbors for free -

and he would hear thanks from them

when they spotted him 
on the street during the week.

All this was brought out

in the eulogy at his funeral.

And his wife and kids saved

that last loaf - well half a loaf -

which is better than none -

as they say - from his last supper

with them - and then came the

heart attack that last night -

that last supper with him.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

EATING

She liked to eat - but she ate 

too much. She knew that.

She could feel the weight

on her butt - but that

didn’t stop her. She felt the

pressure on her knees. That

didn’t stop her either.

She began spotting articles

about weight loss and eating

smart - but that brought guilt

and comparisons which

made her eat even more.

If she heard it once, she

heard it twenty times: “It’s

not what you eat; it’s

what’s eating you.” And

every time she laughed

at that one - saying,

“It’s what you eat!” 

Then she met someone

and she took off 38 pounds.

Then she had a t-shirt made

with the words, “It’s not what

you eat, but whom you meet!”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

       COACHING

He always wanted to be a coach,

even when he was a player ….

Then when he made it, when

he was hired, he began to feel

the tough of it - the decisions -

to cut players - to bench ego’s -

to field the best - realizing this

meant the wrath of parents -

the nasty chanting of fans -

when the team was going

through a slump - yet he hung

in there - with Harry Truman’s

words on his office desk. “If you

can’t stand the heat, get out of

the kitchen.” That helped, but

what really helped was a poem

his wife read to him from Mary Oliver:

FARM COUNTRY*

I have sharpened my knives, I have

Put on the heavy apron.

Maybe you think life is chicken soup, served

In blue willow-pattern bowls.

I have put on my boots and opened

The kitchen door and stepped out

Into the sunshine. I have crossed the lawn

I have entered

The hen house.

* Mary Oliver, New and  Selected Poems
Volume One, Page  211


© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

WORKING

She was a working mom

all those years - but didn’t

think she was really working -

just raising kids - taking them

to the park - and then driving,

driving them everywhere.

Some shopping was work;

some shopping was fun.

She liked supermarkets

with a baby in the cart

in front of her - that was

always a conversation starter,

but it became a nuisance

once her boys could walk.

They could be wanderers

in the  supermarket aisles.

Cooking - no problem. She

loved to cool. Cleaning - no.

Then when the kids were

in school - it was second career

time. Surprise she flourished.

She liked being an accountant,

the degree she got and never used.

Well, better say it here in this story,

there are no surprise happenings.

Just life. A husband and a wife -

still talking about when they retire.

In the meanwhile, those tuition

bills and college costs pitter

patter on their radar screen.

Ooops! What about weddings?

Life - for some. Then there is

the Sudan - and Afghanistan.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

THINKING

He was thinking ….

That was her complaint about him.

He was thinking.

He was a quiet guy.

When she’d ask, “A penny for

your thoughts?” he’d just say,

“Oh just thinking. Just thinking.”

That is what bothered her and she

let him know this on a regular basis.

So he thought about this constant

complaint of her’s, He tried to tell

her what was going on at work

- the power struggles going on there -

but she’d jump in and cut him off

and tell him what he ought to do.

Then he’d think about that and

say to himself, “It ain’t worth it.
It ain’t worth it. She really doesn’t

want to think with me.”

Then he’d think about

why he tended to repeat,

repeat, what he was thinking.

Then he laughed. She gets

mad with my doing too much

thinking?  I even get mad

at too much thinking.

Think about that.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012

SMILING

He was always smiling…

and laughing as well - and

some people he knew in court

thought this was wrong. Judges

are always supposed to be serious.

You know the old saying,

“As serious as a judge!”

He’d counter - “But sometimes

it’s funny - the things people do.”

And he’d laugh all the way

to beginning of a trial. Then

as he walked into court

he’d put on his serious face.

Then came the horror stories.

And every once and a while,

he make a funny comment.

And he thought it was funny

that people didn’t know that

sometimes there is something

funny even in the midst

of the biggest tragedy.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2012