.

ALONG A FEW IRISH   

BACK ROADS 

Roads, rocks, rain - 

glimpses of sunshine -

clouds  in muddy mirror potholes -

wind rushing to dry off the meadows

and push away the gray mist - 

so the tourists can see out the windows

of their big buses - and be nosy 

about who's who in these white washed thatched homes of their great, great grandparents - who had no food 

on their tables as they suffered 

the Great Famine and the troubles - but now these homes are the castle 

and the palace of their rich, mind you, 

rich distant DNA cousins - singing and dancing here on this green - green, - 

rain, rain - everyday island called Ireland.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2018

WHAT  AM  I   MISSING?

There’s always a catch ….

What am I missing?

The key seems to be ….

It might be in the bottom drawer

or on the top shelf in the back,

or under the bed or in the attic ….
Is It You, God? Is It You?

So, God - keep giving me hints ….
What am I looking for?

What am I missing?
Is It You, O God? You, O God?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

April 21, 2018

Thought for today:

“A car radio blasts,

“Love,  O careless Love ….” I hear

my ill-spirit sob in each blood cell,

as if my hand were at its throat ….

I myself am hell;

nobody’s here.” 

Robert Traill Spence Lowell, [1917-1977], 

Skunk Hour [1959], stanza 5, 6

REVERSED ROLES

Jesus put your hands into my wounds,

into my cuts.  Touch my hurt.  Let me

look into your eyes, so I will know -

you know - what I have gone through -

and both of us will wink at each other -

as we say to the great connector, the

great peace maker,  “What you too?”

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

Painting: Doubting Thomas 

by Caravaggio
Check out John 20: 19-29

April 20, 2018

Thought for today:

“What is hell? Hell is oneself,

Hell is alone, the other figures in it

Merely projections,” 

Thomas Sterns Eliot [1888-1965]  

The Cocktail Party [1950]

CULMINATIONS

Endings: Sometimes we see 
them coming; sometimes we don't.

It's Friday - we're moving towards 

the last days of a vacation.

The breakup of a marriage.

I had stopped saying, “Thank you.”

The waitress says, “Does anyone

want coffee or dessert or the bill?”

The doctor says, “Sorry,

it doesn’t look good.”

People start moving towards

the exit. The score is 7 to 1.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

April 19, 2018

Thought for today:

“Me miserable! which way shall I fly

Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?

Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;

And in the deepest deep a lower deep,

Still threat’ning to devour me, opens wide,

To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven."

John Milton [1608-1674], 

Paradise Lost [1667] IV, line 73