When Gabriel Visits – a poem by Anne Magee Dichele

When Gabriel Visits

Will you be able,
when Gabriel visits,
to quell your questions
as Mary did?

Annunciations happen daily.

So often
Gabriel has been sent
to make this simple request:

God would like to be with you.

It never makes sense,
no details of how or why,
yet Gabriel,
dutiful messenger,

slips through the back door
of your life, unexpected,
offer in hand.

Like the day your sister was dying
and he suggested to have God
sit with you, by her bedside, 
if you like.

Too sad and too weary to speak,
you nod

and her dying hours 
became, in that moment,
luminous and holy,

the cramped room so heavy
with the breath of love
you knew the invited one
had arrived.

And you knew somehow
all would be well
because 
you said 
yes.

Anne Magee Dichele serves as Dean of the School of Education at Quinnipiac University. A life-long commitment to daily meditation and spiritual reflection has led to two poetry publications by Antrim House, Waiting for Wisdom and Ankle Deep and Drowning. Two of her poems were recently published in Thin Places & Sacred Spaces by Amethyst Press. Anne lives in New Haven, Connecticut with her dog Seamus Heaney. She is joyous that her wonderful children and granddaughter live nearby.