Poem/Prayer THE BABY by Michel Quoist
Its from a section called "All life would become a sign" saying "The father has put us into the world, not to walk through it with lowered eyes, but to search for him through all things, events, people ... Long prayers are not needed in order to smile at Christ in the smallest details of daily life."
THE BABY
The mother left the carriage for a minute, and I went over to meet the Holy Trinity living in the baby's pure soul.
It was asleep, its arms carelessly laid on the embroidered sheet.
Its closed eyes looked inward and its chest gently rose and fell
As if to murmur: This dwelling is inhabited.
Lord, you are there.
I adore you in this little one who has not yet disfigured you.
Help me to become like him once more,
To recapture your likeness and your life now so deeply buried in
my heart.
********
I think it is that last verse that I like so much. It reminds me of a poem by Matthew Arnold called the buried life, that my sister introduced me to:
But often, in the world's most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;
A thirst to spend our fire and restless force
In tracking out our true, original course;
A longing to inquire
Into the mystery of this heart which beats
So wild, so deep in us--to know
Whence our lives come and where they go
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