First Things RSS Feed - Victoria McCabe https://www.firstthings.com/author/victoria-mccabe en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:54:13 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/victoria-mccabe 60 At a Priest’s Grave https://www.firstthings.com/article/2011/11/at-a-priests-grave https://www.firstthings.com/article/2011/11/at-a-priests-grave Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400 Bare trees under a requiem of clouds.
Snow. Over the ground a gaggle of geese
Hustles across an expanse of nothing”
They haven’t a prayer; not a kernel
Breaks through dirt; no hand scatters a repast.
The multitudinous graves of the good
Do not flare into flower. Sorrow
Lays itself down like an ancient Greek plot.

”But the boy has bought ballons, a bounty
Of faith tied with blue ribbon. He scribbles
Love’s postscript in neon magic marker
Then lets them go, robustly, “to Father,”
Launching them from this lanscape of thunder
Into the starred theatre he calls heaven.

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]]> The Failed Suicide https://www.firstthings.com/article/1993/11/004-the-failed-suicide https://www.firstthings.com/article/1993/11/004-the-failed-suicide Mon, 01 Nov 1993 00:00:00 -0500 You have returned to find so much more
To despair: the flesh whiter,
More helpless, the city stinking
As never before, and those
Whom you had so carefully avoided
Are bringing tea and blankets now,
The bounty of their gardens.

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