[Dialogue] A poem by Lucille Chagnon (not Wendell Berry)

[Chagnon@comcast.net]

Jann, 
   Thanks for that beautiful poem by Wendell Berry--and for so much else you 
have shared. 
   Below is a poem that I wrote during the 30-day Ignatian Retreat that I did in 
Connecticut in 1976 after it became increasingly clear to me that, after over 20 
years, I needed to leave the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary.  For the first time in my life, I was deeply depressed.  After the 30-day retreat and after months of wrangling all the way to the Mother General, I still couldn't let go, but I finally got permission to intern again, on assignment from the PMs, with the ICA in Chicago.  A year and a half later, I was finally ready to leave Kemper and go back to NH to sign the laicization papers.  While waiting for the official papers to come back from the Motherhouse in Europe, Paula Philbrooke called me at my mother's in my hometown in Athol, Mass. and asked if I would be willing to help out with the Rendez-vous Quebec town meetings during the first quarter of 1978.  I was delighted, especially because I speak French fluently.  At the end of the quartr, the papers arrived at the Provincial House in Manchester, NH, and I was free for an ICA assignment to Brussels and the extension of Town Meetings there, the Gilding of Europe.  
    With that as a background I was amazed last month--when I came across this little poem that I wrote after a long walk through woods and by-roads--to recall how serene and objective I was during the Ignatian Retreat when my mind was far from made up about how, when, and especially if and why I should leave the convent after so many meaningful years.
Lucille Chagnon
On a beautiful day in Wilmington, DE


Genesis I
 
God alive in creation
In the world beneath my feet
At my fingertips;
The green wonder seen with fresh eyes
Because the pace has slowed
And the world within is calm.

Rabbits on the green
So close I saw their rapid breath
Their twitching noses
Ears alert
And heard them tear the grass;
I even head one chewing.

Then tiny birds
A horse and rider
A big fat cat beneath the trees;
And finally, a cardinal
Stopped long enough to let me take
A second look.

There were four people
In the chapel
When I came in
My being filled with 
Gratitude and awe.
		6/26/76