Part of the Pilgrimage Summer 2013 Series
Written during my time on Iona
Baptism: A Poem
I met the shore,
greeting the sea I’ve
seen now from multiple angles,
but had yet to touch.
It seemed right that
this was the moment,
in this cove where
legend,
myth,
and flesh
linger.
This place where pair
after pair
of feet have trod.
To wonder and
pay homage,
to the Saint,
but more,
to the thin space
curled within
this cove.
I stoop.
People fill the rocks,
each of us in our own moment.
Mine with this rock curled in my hand,
and the water.
I took off my glove,
and dipped the tips
of two fingers into the salt bay.
To my forehead,
and my breast,
the cross etched when I was a wee one,
just four weeks old.
The crosses I’ve traced so many times
when I greet the ocean,
the Divine Movement
throughout my life.
In the name of the Creator,
Redeemer and Sustainer.
I commit again,
To a life of service,
to my God
and fellow humans.
The wave comes and covers my boot.
I rise and step back,
hesitant to leave this moment
of ritual.
Refocused on my life
in the world.
