Benediction

Benediction

Words: Luci Deck Shaw ’53
Photo: Kayla Ruchti

Pink roses bloom outside a large athletic complex

Each summer, roses bloom in front of Chrouser Sports Complex.

A Wild Embrace

Luci Deck Shaw ’53

(1928–2025)

How creation dares us into

a wild embrace of what is

too beautiful to ignore. You open

your front door.

Breathe, and all the old dust and confusion

of your life falls behind you.

You are not to obsess about it,

no matter how it calls you.

Instead, bend and examine

closely how the grass has grown

an inch under last night’s rain,

and the peony buds are swelling,

the tips of pink petals already

bursting free like prisoners

wrongly convicted and now

released. There is such generosity

out there, reaching towards you

with hands open, claiming you,

a created being issuing

from the open mouth of God.


Read our tribute to Luci Deck Shaw ’53

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