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A volunteer at McAuley Convent in Merion, Pennsylvania, Sister Angela Fellin, 90, is featured in our National Poetry Month series with her poem “Journey,” a reflection about life’s vicissitudes. Despite efforts to chart a plan for our lives, “the ocean of change sweeps us where it will,” she said. The challenge “is in the living into what is and appreciating the journey as having meaning. If we trust the going, all will be well.” 

Her second poem, “Bittersweet,” was inspired by a friend’s struggles with a relationship. 

The Journey 
By Sister Angela Fellin 

Click here to listen to the author read this poem 

Somehow my anchor disappeared 
slipped away and I 
untethered drifted. 

Where would I go? 
What awaited hidden 
In the mystery of going? 
I dreamed of lofty horizons 
beckoning me to the unknown. 

But the boat of life 
pushed by the currents 
led me onward. 
No destination revealed. 

Lost, I searched the ocean
seeking hope, expecting 
a revelation. 

The land far away- 
     hope wavering n the winds, 
tossed about- alone. 

Surrendering to the “NOW” 
discovering in the journey 
the secret is in the “GOING.” 

Bittersweet 

Purple bunches hanging 
luscious to the eye 
Swathed in leaves, soft green 
tendrils gently twined. 
Wheat golden, bending, touched
by the breeze, 
pleasant to behold. 
Bread and wine, the things of earth 
become for us His life. 
Eat my body, drink my blood 
hard saying – this indeed, 
To sink my teeth into that food, 
To quench my thirst on blood. 

The grape but decoration there 
‘til punctured, crushed-then savored sweet. 
The wheat just grains that 
blow about ‘til ground 
and formed- bread feeds. 
Life too, can rest out there – apart, 
You, friend, remain aloof 
‘til pain has crushed the core of us. 
Crushed- 
love comes pouring forth.