Skypsalm

PSALM OF THE SKY

for those who dwell in uncertainty

You are my parachute
I will not fall

in Your arms I float easy
and the air buoys me

I can do backflips, I can wave
to my fellow skydivers

I can sink into unknowing
without freezing

though I have no idea
how distant the ground

or where I will land
I am not afraid

Your silent presence
comforts me

when You dance with me
I forget to feel ungainly

You will cradle me
all the days of my life

spin with me
in the stratosphere forever

This poem takes the form of a contemporary psalm, and it has two strong influences. The first is psalm 23, which is here in bilingual edition (though the English there is quite archaic!) And the second is a story which chaplain Kate Braestrup tells in Marriage and Other Acts of Charity (which I recently reviewed).

Kate recounts a conversation with a man who flies small planes, in which the two of them discuss fears of falling out of an airplane; over the course of the book, I see that conversation drawn into an extended metaphor for relationships in general. When I brought this image to my spiritual director this week, I realized that one of the relationships which sustains me in my own times of free-fall is my relationship with God. Hence the psalm.

This poem wasn't written in response to a prompt, and Big Tent Poetry is closing down, but here's a link to the final Come One, Come All post so you can see what others wrote this week... and I'll continue sharing new work here, never fear.

[skypsalm.mp3]