Aureole

Today's word is "aureole" ... a radiance surrounding the head or the whole figure in the representation of  a sacred personage.

Shining
In your ordinary hours, have you ever seen,
A saint, real or imagined in the daylight or a dream?
Whose actions speak more loudly than any word well said,
And on whom glory shines like an aureole round their head?

Maybe he was not obvious, when he first appeared,
Maybe you'd not noticed him, without a long white beard.
Perhaps his garb was like your own, not white or spun of beams,
And yet somehow his visage was more than what it seemed.

Was it when he showed up suddenly at the hospital that day,
When he prayed for healing and you saw pain go away,
Or when he took the time to look a small child in the eye,
As if he was important too, just like you or I?

Sometimes in the market line he talks to one who's near,
Frazzled by life's burdens; it's written on her face so clear.
Or taking time to help someone, who's brain's not up to snuff,
With patience sincere and infinite, even when he's heard enough.

We all could, I suppose, attempt that holy way of being,
It would take a lot of practice and a whole new way of seeing.
And concentration to the expense of things in which we're mired,
That's why saints are saints and we are by commonness attired.

Anne Selleck
Copyright 2013