LITANY OF
PERPETUAL
HELP

Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help,
help me to make
someone’s day today.

Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help,
tell me what how the Carpenter,
wants me to build my house
on rock today.

Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help,
help me to be a source of courage
for someone today.

Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help,
help me to really listen
to someone today.

Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help,
help me to lighten the cross
for someone today.

Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help,
help me to stop gossip
about someone today.

Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help,
help me to be show forgiveness
to someone today.

Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help,
help me to go the extra mile
for someone today.

(c) Andy Costello, CSs.R. 2007

CUP OF TEA

Taking the time
to have a cup of tea
with each other,
mother and daughter,
at least three times a week –
for at least 17 years now,
slowly sipping
each other’s words,
softly slipping back
into each other’s lives.
Time lost. Time found
in the early afternoon.
Slowly, the warmth
of the cup in each other’s hands
becoming a thanksgiving meal
with just tea and rye bread,
cold butter and marmalade,
then pushing mom’s wheel chair
to the window, so she can
wave to her daughter
when she gets to the parking lot,
her daughter needing to get home
ready to welcome her daughters
home from school,
the same outward ritual,
but this time with cookies
and Coca Cola – but they will turn
to rye bread and tea
20 years from now.

© Andrew Costello, 2007

PENTECOST EVENING

Curtains moving,
leaves shaking,
a cool breeze
working its Way
through the night,
through the walls,
comfortable, knowing
You, Spirit, are here,
Assurance, Love,
the Invisible
working its Way
through my night
through my walls
deep, deep into me.

© Andrew Costello - 2007

BETWEEN US

A certain loneliness
drifted in, unnoticed,
gray clouds at first,
then a dampness,
humidity,
that made the door
between us
so hard to open.

© Andy Costello, 2007

EMPTY CHAIR

You left before you
actually left.
I didn’t realize
all the time
I was talking,
I was talking
to your smile.
I was talking
to an empty chair.
What scares me
as I talk about you
to myself is that
I’m might become
an empty chair myself.

© Andy Costello - 2007

A POEM

A poem,
a sudden song of increased intensity,
sometimes thundering out of a hurt,
sometimes a quiet muttering in the heart,
sometimes a shout about creation.
A poem,
a quiet statement or a noisy stillness
which simply says,

"This is what I'm thinking about.
“This is what I'm shouting out.”

© Andy Costello - 2007

POEM: 

UPS AND DOWNS

I just met two people.
One looked up to me.
The other looked down on me.
I pray for both of them
because neither of them
know me, nor know
my ups and downs.

© Andy Costello