AT OLD ST. VINCENT'S
(Columbus, Ohio)
Blue chicory
and
white daisies,
interlacing,
strike my gaze,
as I pedal,
down a quiet country lane;
taking me back
in reverie,
to their kindred
in my childhood world of play.
Sunlit and timeless,
fondly I recall
the carefree days
of my early youth,
on the Boys' Playground
at St. Vincent's Orphanage.
A football field in length,
two-thirds in width,
with a red brick wall
seven feet high
on every side but south,
it seemed immense to me,
a child of six,
newly arrived from St. Ann's
my infant home,
just east across
the nearby street.
Running, bounding
through its trees
and open field,
I was a cowboy-
a horse-
an Indian chief-
one with the earth,
one with the sky,
the sheer joy of being
my sole delight!
Though bereft of parents
from the first months of life,
my spirit soared.
God dwelled within and communed
through His natural world.
Cheered by song of birds,
lulled by singing locusts,
soothed by gentle breezes
and the whispering trees;
charmed by butterflies
beguiled by dragonflies,
and thrilled by the beauty
of the heavens,
my soul indeed rejoiced
in God my Savior!
January 12, 1998
