Liam Greene, S.J. (1942 - 2008)
The Green Wood and The Dry
I'm not saying the journey is over.
I'm not saying the end is in sight.
I cannot even call up those many metaphors for the end:
the chapter closing;
the folding away of the blanket;
the putting of affairs in order.
My affairs are not in order and they never will be.
I am always beginning to spring-clean,
and it never comes to an end.
I'm just saying that I am beginning to forget.
Whether that is age, weariness
or just simply the overloading of the system,
I don’t know.
But this has been a week where the refrain:
"Lest we forget" has been repeated over and over again.
(by some, only by some).
And while it would suit me to forget,
to get lost in the whole business of trying to keep up with now,
I would not like to be forgotten,
especially by those who have heard very little from me
and for whom my whole life must have been a mystery,
as much a mystery to them as to me.
(Liam Greene)