Breath
surrounds you

For Stacy Rector

By Janet Hilley

Tis a cold path you've chosen
and one strewn with stones.
You'll walk it, often alone
and scorned.

For who admires the path of life
when that of vengeance is
smooth, easy and downhill?

Walk on, tall and determined.
For you are bathed in whispers.
No half-hearted mutterings these, no

these are the voices of the saints,
shouts of truth and grace softly crashing
about your curls as you go.

So plod on in steely resolve.
You may be the only one you see
down that rocky path you trod

but the air around you crackles
with the loving care of countless voices
crying grace, crying freedom, crying love.

This is the cloak you drape from your shoulders,
knowing you carry with you the love of the ages
heard by the Christ in our breath all around.