My Magnificat

In the Marian month of October

Magnificent madness

My savage spirit you stunned

Bones leap out to dance

Something inside

You touched and exploded

Unleashing the torrent of one hundred springs

That rush to embrace

The vineyards lost in my memory

    O blessed be

Walls you have broken down

Oppressors you pinned to the ground

Now you pick

This shrub you found

So fragile among the ruins

And marvel at its lowliness

    O blessed be

“I will lure her once more into the desert

Where I can speak to her tenderly

Then I will give back her vineyards

Make the Valley of Achor a door of hope

There she will answer me as in her youth” *

Magnificent madness

Unbecoming indeed

Divine extravagance

Recklessness unprecedented

Grace

Without adjectives

Love without end

Without protest

    O blessed be

*Hosea 2:16-17 paraphrased

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
Ma. Ceres P. Doyo has been a journalist for more than 40 years. Her written works have won numerous awards, among them, two National Book Awards for Journalism (2015 and 2022). She writes a weekly column, “Human Face,” for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

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