"Communion"

I wrote "Communion" on the morning of Monday, February 2, 2026. The long, tragic month of January was over, but the situation in Minnesota had not gotten much better. I typed up the poem, saved it as a jpeg, and posted in on Facebook, shared with Friends only. One of my friends, a local Lutheran pastor, asked for permission to share it. I gave her permission to copy and share the photo, and extended that permission to anyone who wanted to share the poem, as long as I was credited as the author. By the end of that week, the poem had been shared thousands of times. It was being read at church services and shared on social media. It was read at a leadership meeting of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in St. Louis, and at a meeting of the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was being shared by Christians of many denominations, by Catholics and Protestants. Within two weeks, the poem had appeared on the blog of a Uniting Church pastor in Australia. A choral setting had been composed by a church music director in California, and two other composers had asked for permission to set it to music. 

I have been astounded by how fast and how far the poem has traveled. It remains free for anyone to share with attribution. I think of it as a gift. If you want a Creative Commons license, the appropriate one is below. If you adapt the poem (for example, set it to music or illustrate it), please make it free for others to share (as composer Jamie Apgar has done with his choral setting, which is available royalty-free to churches and nonprofits). I'd also love to know how you've shared or adapted the poem. Contact me at: rhardy[at]carleton.edu

I was baptized in the Methodist church, confirmed in the Presbyterian church (my brother is a Presbyterian minister), and as an adult joined the UCC. For a while I was even a deacon in the local UCC church, but for about 20 years I've been "unchurched." But because I was raised in a Christian tradition, the language still has great meaning to me and still inspires my poetry. I'm glad so many others have been inspired by the language of "Communion." 

Communion © 2026 by Rob Hardy is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0