The Way Faith Happens

Greta Aart

 

 

is by waiting

or walking at ease.

Here lies the most subtle form

of grace : Heart

seeking a singing soul ;

green yearning for green ;

green beneath turquoise ;

the roots of the earth

standing beyond rivers

reaching out for you,

like seven stars in winter

waltzing upon a crystal forest.

The way faith happens

is by dreaming

sotto voce, having listened

to pitch black silence despite

haunting white voices in the head.

The way faith happens

is that after is always before,

and you decide to laugh out loud,

living through today with

yesterday no more.

Skyscrapers, alchemy, magnetic force,

Rue Séguier, Gare du Nord,

trains arriving, mobs leaving,

wheels, motors and railways,

I know you are there,

anywhere but somewhere,

hidden within streets and lights

watching the dusk across the

bridge down River Seine.

I know you are there –

your eyes follow the stream

to my heart. I know

rocks always exist,

Notre Dame testifies.

The way faith happens

is that some day

they will move.

    


Greta Aart, born as Fiona Sze-Lorrain, writes in both French and  English. Originally from New York, she graduated from Columbia  University and New York University. She recently edited Silhouette/Shadow: The Cinematic Art of Gao Xingjian (Paris: Contours, 2007) in   which she translated the Nobel Prize Laureate Gao Xingjian's poetry from the French. Also a musician, she now lives in Paris, France and   misses the vast American landscapes.

 

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