THE POPE'S EMPTY CHAIR
The chair sits empty on the altar floor,
its arms long held memories lost from sight.
Once carrying prayers, uplifting souls,
a silent witness to life now waiting in muted space.
As too my heart and soul are emptied
of the fullness of the humility of the living Christ
An empty silence stands where mercy stood,
a throne calling out to be restored in grace.
Yet in this disquieted quiet the voices
of the dearly loved homeless and un-fed are heard
As the altar watches prayers of devotion rise,
in the emptiness prepared for God to realize.
And His world shall pour its holiness back in,
like dawn returning after the night air has grown thin.
Fullness shall lay on the cushion where absence now sits,
filling the hollow with dignity and strength .
As the sun rises across the valley of the nave
of this incensed filled smoky sadness
A golden rosy light flows through upon the marbled vault,
as a quiet promise of a renewing earth.
Morning air is poised to carry prayers still unsaid,
as promises rising from beyond the dead,
And hope is reborn in radiant glory
out of a now breathing silence into a new unfolding story.
Copyright © MARCOLORENZO RUGGENTI | Year Posted 2025
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