The Awakened Child

by Macrina Wiederkehr

Suddenly I am a child again
Awakening from a deep sleep,
trusting a hand
held out in the darkness
inviting me to rise and live.

Suddenly I am a child again
Allowing eternal questions
to rise in my soul,
asking the questions aloud, aloud
in silence, in silence, in silence
and finally a silence that is loud.
No longer afraid
to seek the mystery, questioning,
no longer afraid of eternal questions.

Suddenly I am not afraid of what I do not know
unafraid of what I do not understand
Suddenly I am delighted to take the hand of an unseen God,
leading me through a comforting darkness
in which I do not see the stars
but feel them rising in my heart.

Suddenly I am a child
unashamed and unafraid
to reach out in the darkness for a hand.

Suddenly I am an awakened child.


From The Song of the Seed: A Monastic Way of Tending the Soul by Macrina Wiederkehr (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995), “The Feast of the Awakened Child,” p. 87.