A Christmas surprise!

I got a package this weekend; addressed to me, but with no other indication on the outside other than "Royal Post" and the torn corner of the envelope, showing that it contained a book. The surprise turned out to be "Travelling Light: a Book of Days" by Irish blogger and poet Ann Murray.
Ann's poetic reflections always kind of awe me, prosaic prose writer that I am. And now she has taken advantage of the opportunities that the new media offer to compile her work into the sort of format that one can carry into an adoration chapel without raising too many eyebrows, or leave near the desk for a daily bit of inspiration to share with others. Ann's poetry often has a Marian cast to it, and this shows up in the book as well. I think it would be a lovely gift for someone coming into the Catholic Church--just a daily book of Catholic spirituality as it is lived and reflected in "real life."
I'm going to, as we say in the convent, "take a presumed permission" and copy here Ann's poem for the New Year (posted today on her blog); it's a great sample of what you'll find 365 examples of in her book:

New Year Poem

Some speak of lives
Long or short-lived
But in truth
The time that is ours
That promised to us
Stretches to infinity

Let us be busy then -
Let no window refuse
The Light of Christ
May His goodness
Illuminate
Penetrate
Every pane, every corner
Until the soul of the house
Like crystal shines
In the light of the sun
And the walls of the house
Are but veils
Lifting to new horizons.

Thank you, Ann, for the gift of your poetry--and for the book!