Waiting Room by Betsy Snider

“I am a room full of light and shadows.”
Blackberries in the Dream House by Diane Frank

Waiting Room

She sits still, wrapped
in light that spills
from windows stained
in red and blue and green.

Quiet fills the hollow spaces
between ribs near her heart,
a dark chamber hidden
in the shadows of her sins.

Her head bows under the weight
of a white cotton veil worn thin
in an unforgiving laundry
where dirt is beaten and beads
are counted in Aves and Paters.

Beneath her blue serge habit,
folded wings await the call,
Hallelujah!

Betsy Snider is a retired attorney who lives on Crescent Lake in Acworth, NH. Her poems have been published in the Cold River Review, Black Magnolias Literary Journal, Lynx Magazine, The 2008 Poet's Guide to New Hampshire, the Anthology of New England Writers 2008 and Love Over 60: 100 Women Poets Over 60. When not swimming or canoeing, she writes poetry and volunteers as a CASA Guardian ad Litem for abused and neglected children.

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Poem is used here with the permission of the poet. All rights reserved.
The picture was provided by the poet and is of Magnificat Chapel, Sisters of the Humility of Mary, Villa Maria, PA. It is the room that inspired this poem.