It came to me out of the blue.  I was idly wandering through the fields when I felt that I had to write about Julian of Norwich.  Her writing has long been both an inspiration and a puzzle to me. Her commitment and her intellect are both dazzling.  This is by way of an entreaty to understand.

The Call

Mother Julian! Mother Julian!

I don’t know your name, the one that your mother would call

As you wandered away from your home in the grip of your holy enthral

As you sat looking out at the blue

of the sky be it daytime or night were you always convinced of your goal

did you instinctively know what is right, was yours always a pure childish soul?

Did God’s voice on the wind or the tide

gently slide in with delight and rock you with thoughts so divine

you said, “Now I’m for an Anchorite I know the course that is mine”.

Was it simple for you, did you doubt

were you ever tempted to sin? When children bullied and fought

were you there on the edge looking in, thinking violence will all come to nought?

I hope that you gave up some gritty

childhood pleasures and joys that you threw sticks and muddied the water

and you cried over old broken toys, wishing to stay evermore as a daughter

freezing time that was precious and good

but then you discovered your Father in churches so simple and plain

that you walked away from your family a much greater one for to gain.

How proud and how sad was your mother

when you donned the linen pure, that mark of your face in her memory

full of light and conviction so sure, Holy work the one truth in your story

Do I envy you the faith that was riven

so deep in your brilliant mind? Shall I ever be even so true

to a tenth of what you left behind? Only God knows, but maybe I do!

Denny Bradbury©2013