Through stormy hours
and rainy grey,
blue skies remain
and love is constant.
…and even when a cloud
looms up in your blue sky –
love still appears
in various guises!
A Heart In The Clouds
Waiting, Far Off
A quiet roar
one
he lays his left hand along the beam
hand that moulded clay into fluttering birds
hand that cupped wild flowers to learn their peace
hand that stroked the bee’s soft back and touched death’s sting
two
he stretches his right hand across the grain
hand that blessed a dead corpse quick
hand that smeared blind spittle into sight
hand that burgeoned bread, smoothed down the rumpled sea
three
he stands laborious
sagging, split,
homo erectus, poor bare forked thing
hung on nails like a picture
he is not beautiful
blood sweats from him in rain
far off where we are lost, desert dry
thunder begins its quiet roar
the first drops startle us alive
the cloud no bigger
than a man’s hand
Singing Green
In honour of St Patrick’s day, some songs – starting with a prayer attributed to St Patrick, and then some artists I enjoy…
Shining In The Dark
When terrible things happen, we bow our heads to mourn and pray, as is only right.
We can also remember that this world still has beauty, and the majority of its people want to love and show kindness.
Walk lightly.
Be kind.
Love.
Morning is coming.
God’s Grandeur
by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1877)
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
King Of The Mysteries
A week or so ago, a song I loved but hadn’t heard in a while was brought to my attention… When I first heard it I didn’t know what it was or who it was by, but it spoke to that wildness that is at the centre of spirit. We dream of great adventures and epic journeys, but life tends to blunt our corners and keep us chained to the average.
And we’re afraid…
Who will catch us when we fall?
Is the journey worth the possible pain, or loss?
This song gave me answers to hold to.
It’s based on a prayer attributed to St. Brendan, a 5th – 6th century Irish monk who was known as a seafarer, and sometimes known as “The Navigator”, “The Voyager” and “The Bold”.
The Prayer of St Brendan
Help me to journey beyond the familiar
and into the unknown.
Give me the faith to leave old ways
and break fresh ground with You.
Christ of the mysteries, I trust You
to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know
that my times, even now, are in Your hand.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,
and somehow, make my obedience count for You.
The story of Brendan’s voyage is an often fanciful tale of an eventful journey to the “Isle of the Blessed”, a tale that for me brings to mind C.S.Lewis’ “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. It has been suggested the blessed isle that he and his crew eventually found may have been off the coast of Canada, which seems like something that could not have been accomplished in a 6th century leather coracle. However, in 1977, a man named Tim Severin landed a traditionally built coracle on Peckford Island, Newfoundland, after having set sail from County Kerry the previous year.
Who knows what’s possible if you set sail into the mystery?
If It Pours?
Looks like we may be in for some rough weather…
Hoping we get rain where we need it, and safety from high winds if necessary.
I find it interesting that I’ve come across this song twice today, in different contexts – perhaps there’s a different rain coming…
My Onion Heart
I’ve had this photo hanging round for a few days, waiting for me to use it. My plan was to write a poem to go with it – and I have most of one. I’m struggling with a line that just won’t go right…
PROCRASTINATION!
(which means that nothing gets done if not perfectly…)
Here is my onion heart. Without poem.
I’ve written before about the hearts God leaves for me – clouds, leaves, various places. This was one that was left on the floor after a trip to the markets – a random onion skin proclaiming love.
I wanted to share it in a perfect setting, but that often means it just doesn’t get done.
Here is love, in imperfection, amongst the cares and responsibilities of the day!
Staring Down The Century
Today is the central day of my personal century… I can look back with kind assessment on the previous half, before squaring my shoulders and facing forward to the unknown years.
I also realised today that I have just entered my sixth decade. That feels both scary and oddly liberating!
It’s been quite a while since I cared much about how others see me. As I get older I’m more able to be “me”, without pretence. There’s scope for fun and frolic – singing randomly in the supermarket, dancing down the street – as well as the serious adult business of life. I’m unsure what I’ll be doing this year, but the possibilities are endless!
It’s a little odd to realise I’m now eligible for all sorts of “over 50s” opportunities, and I’ll have to remember to pick the next age group on the drop down menus on surveys…
Celebrated this morning with my Babe, having breakfast at our favourite cafe.
I asked my Babe to take a photo of me… didn’t like the first one, so asked him to take another.
I look like I’m about to cry!
This called for a selfie…
I ended up looking slightly terrified of… something. (Look at my lovely necklace, though – it’s a sonic screwdriver, a gift from Sweet Bean 🙂 )
I ended up taking a selfie while laughing at the previous attempts. This shall be my official birthday portrait!
Here’s breakfast – bacon, avocado, haloumi, poached egg, sweet potato rosti and greens. Yum!
❤
On the way out, beautiful fragrant flowers. It had been raining earlier.
Spent the rest of the morning reading my Bible and listening to worship songs.
I plan to continue celebrations tomorrow by taking a trip in to the big city. We’ll see how it goes!
