The KingdomIt’s a long way off but inside itThere are quite different things going on:Festivals at which the poor manIs king and the consumptive isHealed; mirrors in which the blind lookAt themselves and love looks at themBack; and industry is for mendingThe bent bones and the minds fractured By life. It’s a long way off, butContinue reading “It’s a long way off, but”
Tag Archives: Prayer
When the folks have gone.
The poet and priest, the late R.S. Thomas is a favorite of mine. His strong faith and his honest doubt, shape many of his poems. What does happen when the folks have gone, and dust settles on the empty church with only the priest remaining to clear up, to pause and perhaps even to pray?Continue reading “When the folks have gone.”
An unusual Alpinist
Today, I share with you a poem by Gregory Djanikian. In his words I feel the love and care he has for his elderly mother and for the reverence he has for every breath of life. For some who have had the opportunity of watching the Netflix documentary “The Alpinist” you might find the comparisonContinue reading “An unusual Alpinist”
Ebb and Flow
During the summer months many folks head to the beach and delight to get their feet wet! Some of us love visiting the coast in the winter months when wind and wave combine to battle the coastline. I find that the noise of the ebb and flow of wave can be inspiring and stimulating, bothContinue reading “Ebb and Flow”
Some days a prayer utters itself
I have a childhood memory of the BBC radio news playing from the kitchen in the morning while I was getting ready for school. As in the evening, so in the morning, the radio news concluded with the weather forecast which was then followed by the “shipping forecast” and the naming of the “fishing” groundsContinue reading “Some days a prayer utters itself”
Patch a few words together!
Many years ago I had the the opportunity to be in Jerusalem. I remember visiting the “wailing wall”. This wall of prayer for Jew, Muslim, and Christian has stood silently hearing prayers and receiving written prayers scribbled and pushed into the smallest of cracks in the stones. Prayers upon prayers, generation after generation. Some noContinue reading “Patch a few words together!”
It’s not about the View!
I started the conversation by asking, “Where did you meet?” The soon to be married couple looked at each other and answered in unison “Mt. Everest.”I quickly responded “I guess one was on the way up and one was on the way down.” Smiling they responded in unison, “How did you guess?” I am notContinue reading “It’s not about the View!”
“For this, for everything, we are out of tune;”
In Geraldine Brooks’ novel Year of Wonders we are placed in a small village in the English Peak District in the year 1666 as the Great Plague sweeps through England causing untold sorrow and grief. The story begins with the main character, Anna, describing her village “We live all aslant here, on this steep flankContinue reading ““For this, for everything, we are out of tune;””
“To see ourselves as other see us!”
Scotland’s National Bard, Robert Burns, was born on January 25th 1759 and each year his birth is celebrated in a feast of food and words known as Burns Night or Burns Supper on or close to January 25th. Of his many words I take just a few today from his poem To a Louse andContinue reading ““To see ourselves as other see us!””
“Rough-edged circumstances”
As we continue in the midst of Covid-19 I recall a wonderful line from the novel Secrets of a Charmed Life, most of which is set in London during World War II. In the novel, the author Susan Meissner describes two of the main characters as follows “They were just two women trying to chiselContinue reading ““Rough-edged circumstances””
Prayers, Poems, and Christian Ponderings 