Uncategorized – Page 4 – Prayers, Poems, and Christian Ponderings

A Thin Place

The poet Robert Crawford describes the Isle of Iona, in the inner Hebrides, as a place where“spirit, imagination, and physical exertion mingle” The photograph above is of the replica of St. John’s Cross. The original high cross stood on Iona from the late 7th century, and today fragments of this original cross can be viewedContinue reading “A Thin Place”

There was a naughty boy

When we think of John Keats (1795-1821) it is not nonsensical verse that comes to mind. We might think of his Ode to a nightingale or Ode on a Grecian Urn. His poem To Hope has the line – “O let me see our land retain her soul, Her pride, her freedom; – Perhaps thatContinue reading “There was a naughty boy”

“Tossing their heads in sprightly dance”

It is once again that wonderful time of year when daffodils abound. The photo above is Ullswater Lake in the Lake District in northern England. It was while walking home to Grasmere along with his sister Dorothy, that William Wordsworth enjoyed the sight of a host of golden daffodils. In fact it is Dorothy whoContinue reading ““Tossing their heads in sprightly dance””

“The good church mouse”

Diary of a Church MouseHere among long-discarded cassocks,Damp stools, and half-split open hassocks,Here where the Vicar never looksI nibble through old service books.Lean and alone I spend my daysBehind this Church of England baize.I share my dark forgotten roomWith two oil-lamps and half a broom.The cleaner never bothers me,So here I eat my frugal tea.MyContinue reading ““The good church mouse””

Sometimes

SometimesSometimes things don’t go, after all,from bad to worse. Some years, muscadelfaces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail.Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well. A people sometimes will step back from war,elect an honest man, decide they careenough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.Some men become what they were bornContinue reading “Sometimes”

“We’ll be at home again”

We often hear ourselves say to one another. – these are terrible times. Yet our “terrible times” fail to grasp just how terrible life has been and continues to be for so many. It is easy to be drawn down into the deep hole of despair and depression which casts so little light on theContinue reading ““We’ll be at home again””

Sea-Fever

My High School book –Albatross Book of Verse- has on the inside cover my name and the year – 1971! Little did I know then that this small hardback copy would travel with me these past 54 years! I delight to pull it from the shelf and turn its pages and note some of thoseContinue reading “Sea-Fever”

Paradise

Roger Robinson 1967- is a Trinidadian-British poet. His poems have been praised for “finding in the bitterness of everyday experience continuing evidence of ‘sweet, sweet life.’” In his fourth printed collection, A Portable Paradise published in 2019. The poems originate from the tragedy of a London tower block of homes, Grenfell, which burnt to theContinue reading “Paradise”

Scalpay – Outer Hebrides

A HIGH BLUE DAY ON SCALPAYThis is the summit of contemplation, and no art can touch itblue, so blue, the far-out archipelago and the sea shimmering, shimmeringno art can touch it, the mind can only try to become attuned to it to become quiet and space itself out, to become open and still, unworldedknowing itselfContinue reading “Scalpay – Outer Hebrides”

Tilting the World!

I often return to Heaney’s poem Miracle. I love his attention on the friends, this is where he sees the miracle. So often we miss it! Heaney uses the word “tilt” in a few other poems, for example look up his poem Skylight! He urges a different perspective, he desires a wider, deeper meaning. TodayContinue reading “Tilting the World!”