The Enchantment of Living and Other Poems

By Marietta Lea B. Rosana

The Enchantment of Living

In the twilight of years
bouts of pain, tints of joy,
memories born of waiting
of grace and ceaseless toil

Who knows 
when sorrows come
and where joy is to be found

I come to terms
with intense longing
in this timeless journey 
to my home 
in that lone distant sky

Between sips of coffee
and Kairos moments
I savor the scent of my days

Oh, I am worth more than
a thousand sparrows!

On Friendship

To be a friend
I think of the fox with its ritual
of timeless moments,
the gentle process of taming
or the art of wasting time for a friend
honed for hours or perhaps years.

The friendship of God
is more than a ritual,
rapt in a melody of silence
wounded for love.   

The Law

Intricate nets of word,
a confluence of meanings
her hidden spirit dwells

sometimes a puzzle,
sometimes muted

Is this the moral compass
in a broken world,
The timid voice seeking
to be heard?

Just a pinch of hope 
for the powerless.

Her truth lingers
in the streams of our minds
to be enfleshed in us

Shall justice tell of mercy?
Shall mercy live on justice?

In utter silence 
the law speaks

Now is the time 
to heed the summons
of the heart.

Musings While Watching Figure Skating

sheer delight and serenity
the skaters float in the air
with quad jumps and triple lutz
 unmindful of whatever harm

they glide and dance
lilt to the music of their hearts
dazzling and unencumbered
they claim a share of the sky

they skate to a timeless mystery
of soaring and weaving dreams,
savor the moments with hope
spinning towards the splendor of God.

Marietta Lea B. Rosana hails from Tabaco City, Philippines. She is an educator, a retired judge, and has been a lawyer since 1987 in the Philippines. She continues to practice law, gives legal counseling to poor litigants and teaches law in college after her retirement from the judiciary. Writing poetry is her favorite pastime with the usual theme which is about spirituality, law and justice. Her poems have been published in the Catholic Poetry Room, Philippine Graphic Magazine and the Philippine Journal of Education. She firmly believes that poetry is the soul of a nation that can strengthen one’s faith.