LOST

UMBRELLA

It rained all day.

It kept us inside
till we got restless,
till we wanted to
go outside.
Sometimes
searching for
lost umbrellas
gets us talking.
Sometimes
searching for
lost umbrellas
we find things
we forgot we
were looking for
and we decide
to stay inside
and talk some more.

© Andy Costello,

Reflections, 2009

GAMES

Games. Games. Games.
Who wants to play games?
I’m even sick
of the word, “Games”.
Give me names, names
names of people
who don’t want
to play games?

© Andy Costello,

Reflections, 2009

ROLE PLAYING

Somehow she seemed
like a mother superior,
who would play the part
of a mother superior
in a play or a movie.
We thought she thought
she was superior.
Did she feel she was inferior?
Time will tell the truth to her
as she watches her part
long after the play is over,
long after we the audience
have gone home.

© Andy Costello,

Reflections, 2009

SECOND CHANCE

Family members watched them,
these two, both married before,
both chasing each other,
like kids in a school yard,
like leaves caught in an autumn wind.

Family members talked about them
behind their backs, these two, both broken,
spinning in this new chance to dance,
hoping people learn from mistakes,
hoping people don’t hurt each other.

They talked about fear of Winter.
They talked about hope for Spring.
They talked about past and future.
They talked about thaw and resurrection.
Isn’t life filled with second chances?

Family members, like birds in trees,
sitting there watching
above the frozen fields of leaves,
some chirping songs of hope,
some chirping sour notes.

They got through the Winter to Spring.
Birds singing, building nests, starting again,
family members getting used to the two of them.
Then together they celebrated a new marriage
that April – a second chance.

© Andy Costello,
Reflections, 2009

CHOICE OF CHAIRS

When hurt,
I choose to sit in soft chairs.

I smile outwardly.

I sulk inwardly.

I am a stuffed chair
in a stuffed room.

I sit here with the hope
you’ll come and say,
“It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

Will you?

I’m still waiting.

It hasn’t happened yet.

I guess stuffed chairs hide their feelings
better than hard wooden chairs.

Or am I being stupid?
Am I simply being stubborn?

Why don’t I just get up and walk over
to you in your chair and say,
“I’m sorry this happened. Let’s next.”

© Andrew Costello,

Reflections, 2009

STEPS:
THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE

Steps: the story of a life.
Steps: the blessing and the curse.
Steps: the little kid seeing all those tall legged creatures climbing all those stairs – so, so easily – and we have barely learned to walk.
Steps: the little kid looking at the more of life – the wondering “What’s up there?” or “What’s down there?”
Steps: the old folk seeing all those tall legged creatures climbing up and down those stairs – so, so easily – and we barely finished, said, or did the things we wanted to finish, say and do.
Steps: the old folk feeling the less of life – the wondering, “What’s up there?” or “What’s down there?”
Steps: the blessing and the curse.
Steps: the story of a life.

© Andrew Costello
Reflections, 2009

Steps at the

Foyle River Bridge,

Derry, Northern Irleland

BLESSINGS 

ON A LOST CHILD

Jesus often saw them on the edge of the crowd,
these young folks who couldn’t commit –
these young folks who had to run to far countries –
to party, and then to pigsty it – and then sometimes,
but only sometimes, head home sheepishly.
Then, surprise, to see – and then to feel –
the welcoming embrace of a loving father or mother –
and then the anger of older brothers or sisters.
Jesus knew life – family life. Jesus knew that
his Father feels what so many parents feel:
stray, lost, prodigal sons or daughters.
Jesus saw his far off Father waiting, waiting.
Jesus knew returns can be long in coming.
So Jesus, the Son, tried to put into words
what his Father felt, what so many parents feel.
Jesus with serious face and serious words
told crowds about lost sheep, coins,
sons and daughters – and then….
Then with a great smile Jesus would tell
about the joy his Father felt
in the banquet halls of heaven –
when He announced to the great crowds of heaven,
“Good News! One more lost child has come home!”
And Jesus could hear the outbreak, the clapping,
the pandemonium of joy in the banquet halls of Heaven.

© Andrew Costello

Reflections, 2009