! Saint Maximus At Prayer Poem by Michael Shepherd

Sometimes, it’s all humour –
a divine joke shared between gods and men,
a twinkle in the eye of the Creator…

seeing to it, that the man
named Maximus, one day at prayer,
-his eyes were open, for his soul was still -
should notice the smallest beetle
making its way across the open testament,
minding, in its not so tiny mind, its own business…

and in its minimality, the man named Maximus
observed that it had, within its tiny iridescence, being;
watched his mind, learning of its nature;
felt his own being share its life, its spirit, with that little thing;

and understood – the beetle unconcerned, or so
it might appear, within our tiny world –
that in that moment, he had shared
the very nature of the Holy Trinity…
being, nature, living spirit.

Or as the Indians say,
from the Creator we receive
a smile, a message…

Maximal in minimal –
sometimes, it’s all humour.