Abba Jacob and Miracles

One day Abba Jacob
was praying in a sunbeam
by the door in his underground cell,
and the brethren came to him
to ask him about miracles.
One of the elders said,
My mother's spirit came back
and turned out all the lights
the night we gathered for her wake:
Was that a miracle?
Another said, One spring evening
a white rainbow of mist
passed over our heads:
Was that a miracle?
They went on like this
for several hours.
Abba Jacob listened.
Then there was silence.

Big deal,
said Abba Jacob.
Miracles happen all the time.
We're here, aren't we?

-- Marilyn Nelson (1946-), poet, teacher, and children's book author, former poet laureate of Connecticut, from Poems of Gratitude, 2017