In my Commonplace...

Amazed by Love by Luci Shaw

The kinship of woman with man, of water

with stone, is a mystery—the biting of rocks

into the river’s body—the lotion of water like silk

on rough granite—a touch tender and feral,

like the wind combing a green field of oats.


A storm—all the earth trembles, and then is still.

This astonishment, with its sudden thunder,

will shake the breath in your body the way oil

and water shiver together, and when they settle--

a strange new thing, with its pearly light.


To enter the breadth in the joining of two

is to be dazzled—there is so much space in it--

such endless possibility makes you feel smaller than

the ants on a petal, and as wide and rich

as heaven at noon. And the ocean wrapping the world

in its sapphire scarf—at water’s edge, right

at your feet, you will see stones you have

never seen and never will again.


To be amazed by love is not to be blinded but

to let the flare of wonder fill you

like air filling a sail. Isn’t this

the voice of God at work? Even his silence

breathes life into you, a golden sigh as fresh

as Eden. To love someone is not to lose anything,

but to gain it in giving it all away.


(for Jen)