didn’t quite hear her,
So I said, “Pardon?”
Suddenly there was a smile;
Self-recognition shone through her face
As she repeated herself,
With almost embarrassment,
“I mosey, I’m a moseyer.”
Sweet, endearing, openly twelve.
Leaving Mom, needing Mom.
Wholly without artifice,
Pre-artifice, an intimate
Glimpse into the heart of herself.
It’s our first meeting;
She’s felt safe enough to be without charm,
To pull back the veil from her face,
And grace me with
A glimpse of her heart.
We all three chuckle a little;
We all feel full and aglow.
Consciously aware that what just happened
Was a connection we’ll remember forever.
Something mysterious and amazing
Goes on behind and through faces:
They mask and conceal but can also reveal
Multiple layers of one person’s being.
We read that “the Lord used to speak to Moses
Face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”6
“Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone
Because he had been talking with God.”7
The people were then afraid to come near him.
But Moses reassured them with his voice,
And put a veil on his face until he went in
Before the Lord to speak with Him again.8
The power of deep human encounter
Lies in its transparent revelation
Of Divine Presence at the heart of us all,
Which we long for yet can barely sustain.
We approach each other with various rituals,
Share the gift of ourselves in the sacred space,9
And in so doing we’re transfigured. God is here.10
We then leave the most holy place of meeting11
And go about our respective daily lives,
Nurtured by the Spirit living within us.12
6. The Holy Bible (NRSV), Exodus 33:11.
7. Op. cit., 34:29.
8. Op. cit., 34:30–35.
9. Op. cit., Matthew 5:23–24.
10. Op. cit., Luke 9:28–29
11. Op. cit., Exodus 26:30.
12. Op. cit., I Corinthians 3:16.
David, Goliath, and Psychotherapy
Here’s one way that psychotherapy heals:
A patient13 very carefully helps me see
The subtle nuances of what she reveals
And, teaching me, sees herself more clearly.
Sometimes I just don’t get it at first:
The details of what she’s explaining to me.
But that is actually not only all right:
It sets the stage for the healing to be.
Before each time she sees her mother,
She is troubled by the ongoing fact
That she inwardly prepares by arming herself
To fend off mother’s critical attacks.
Preparing for mother’s lobbed missiles
Is actually great progress in fact.
She’s come to realize it’s her mother who’s mean,
Rather than believing she deserves the attack.
It’s taken some years to establish this;
To believe that they’re not a merged unit,
That she will survive outside mother’s orbit,
Even though mother will be importunate.
It’s hard for her to believe this isn’t selfish
(As her mother continues to aver)
And that accepting her mother’s position
Will actually be the living death of her.
But she’s taken repeated little risks,
Of standing in her own separate space,
Instead of rebelling and protesting
Which only keeps mother’s terms in place.
She’s longed to get out of this cage,
