Has His Measure Poem by Terry Collett

Sister Cecilia fingers the beads.
The wood hard between finger
And thumb. The Christ has been
Rubbed smooth by years of prayer.
Shines like a new coin. Her feet ache
With cold. The fingers work their magic.
Her lips move to the rhythm of words
Carried on breath. She carries her
Christ in her breast close to her heart
His picture in the black and red book
In a pocket of her habit of black cloth.
She knows He follows her and listens
To her words and thoughts and watches
Her deeds done in darkness and light
In coldness and heat in cloister and chapel.
For weeks on end she feels His absence
Like a lover gone from sight on some
Distant voyage over rough sea or far off
Lands in search of some other treasure.
But she loves Him still her constant lover
And knows His worth and has His measure.