Late autumn casts its early morning shadows
through a cold and unforgiving wrought iron fence
below the looming branches of a leafless tree
where her silhouette is frozen in the fleeting images
momentarily scratching themselves
across the back wall of a church
unnoticed
where she stands
tattered hymnal in hand
listening to the muffled voices of a choir
singing their Amazing Grace
where the burdening weight
of her self-condemning unworthiness
prevents her from approaching any closer
where she has yet to grasp
were it something deserved
it would cease to be grace.
Robin Offerdahl lives in the San Diego area with his wife and two daughters ages 13 and 11. His work has previously appeared in Snakeskin Poetry Webzine, Haruah: Breath of Heaven, and Halfway Down The Stairs.
© 2010, Robin Offerdahl
Halfway Down the Stairs 