Pause for Prayer
- Details
- Written May 2016
support the vaulted ceiling
Naturally lit
by the sun at its mid-May zenith;
Down the bridle path
the priests, their barrow wheeling,
Loaded with implements
forged by the village blacksmith,
Dressed in olive-green
T-shirts adorned with chicory,
Making them friends
with each other and also the wood;
With yesterday's rain
sprinkled from branches of the sanctuary
Sanctifying the gang
from the local neighbourhood.
In sylvan choir stalls,
blackbirds chirp their arrival,
Till the server calls,
summoning for biscuits and tea,
Mid-morning communion
shared round the altar of survival,
Before returning
to work in jovial camaraderie,
Sweating away
in hard labour, whistling and singing
With wood lice and earwigs,
till the Angelus starts ringing.
Friends of Jubilee Country Park at work in Thornet Wood, once owned by the Bishop of Rochester.
May 2016
Photo: Chicory in Jubilee Country Park
per kind favour: Susan Foulkes
per kind favour: Susan Foulkes
Left Behind in the Woods
- Details
- Written May 2016
When light is soft and the leaves are fresh,
Bursting out of the rest of winter,
Covering the woodland with the shades of day
That lift the heart when a burden's shed,
Or merely shared in the dialogue of prayer,
Transporting the soul to the heights of heaven,
Well above yesterday's unwanted cares;
Until summer comes with its blaze of heat,
Foliage strengthened with photosynthetic energy
Stored up for autumn, when clouds gather
And the leaves fall again, shrouding the earth,
Covering what we left behind today,
But never to bury the memory of now.
Chislehurst Common
May 2016
The Meadow
- Details
- Written July 2015
To the sunlit meadow,
Field guide and check list
Just to make sure we know
Agrimony from columbine,
Corky fruited water dropwort
From Taraxacum officinale -
The simple dandelion.
Are these the lilies of the field
Arrayed in all their splendour
Who neither toil nor spin,
But with Homo sapiens
Share a maker
Who cares for all?
July 2015
Matt 6:28-30
The Flower Walk by Friends of Jubilee Country Park
Photo: Chicory in JCP
Autumn
- Details
- Written October 2015
No evergreen palm leaves;
Just the spent months of summer
Manufactured for storage
But sprinkled liberally,
Fresh, pristine and virginal
On an un-walked footpath,
To become the woodland carpet
Softening the tread,
Tinged with the russet of autumn
In nature's trick and treat.
Creation sanctified
Beautiful and silent,
Ready for All Hallows E'en.
Chislehurst Common
October 2015
The Immigration Office
- Details
- Written September 2012
Containerised for export in the unwanted goods-yard
Luggage-labelled, hoping someone may care for a bear
Shipped off as slaves without a green card
Like Ugandan Asians made stateless by decree
This freedom-loving asylum seeker
Follows Huguenot and Hungarian refugee
Who fled their country in unceremonious departure.
Disposable throw-aways discarded in limbo
With a thousand questions of whys and wherefores
Queuing up in Croydon for Home Office mumbo-jumbo
Feeling they could never belong here because of the laws
Until someone manages a smile and extends a hand,
Offering the warmest of welcomes to a foreign land,
September 2012
Inspired by Caroline Bowditch's presentation at the Southbank Centre: Leaving Limbo Landing
Inspired by Caroline Bowditch's presentation at the Southbank Centre: Leaving Limbo Landing