Lost and Found
- Details
- Written October 2013
Memories filed away in confusion.
There, but blocked from retrieval;
The essence of humanity fading away
As connections fizzle out into nothing
And we disappear off the radar,
Consigned to the scrap-heap of oblivion,
Leaving the ninety nine in bewilderment
Until someone comes to search for us.
Can’t find the keys – anywhere;
Upstairs-downstairs a dozen times a day;
Every cupboard turned out, all drawers emptied;
Try the garage, check the frig; but they’re gone,
Stored away with the squirrel’s hoard
In the unmarked grave of an unknown warrior,
Until we call the neighbours (plural) to help
And there’s rejoicing all round
As the door opens to new-found friends.
Lost the way, and the license;
No longer the driver turning right;
Purposeless and without direction;
Autonomy surrendered; dependency takes over,
Slowly consuming dignity;
Grazing with sheep, chewing the cud with cows,
A swineherd wishing there were somewhere better.
So we head for home – where we belong,
And find someone’s there, waiting for us.
October 2013
Read the stories behind the verses: The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, The Lost Son. (Luke 15)
A Stony Silence
- Details
- Written October 2013
With nowhere to lay his head,
Hungry and thirsty, with not even a raven around,
Though stones could become bread:
Conglomerate of ingredients, compounded
Though not yet transformed into wheat,
Ground down and weathered, kneaded and sun-baked
To become the early morning aroma from the kitchen.
The idea rejected, the stones left silent
To disintegrate into the sands of time.
To disintegrate into the sands of time.
Rocks picked up, clutched at the ready
With righteous indignation rising in anger,
As though not guilty themselves
Of flirtation that gets out of hand.
Blood-boiling hypocrisy of an impromptu jury
Giving their verdict, pronouncing the death sentence.
Until the ultimate law-giver steps in
Fingering forgiveness in the sand.
The stones dropped, discarded in silent obedience
And the peace of absolution descends.
And the peace of absolution descends.
Dusty feet are cleansed for the journey
Down the mountain, through the olive groves,
Across the stream and up the temple mount
To become what they were by the time they arrive.
But the master rides uncharacteristically,
Uncomfortable with the praise of the crowd,
Though the authorities let them be
Not wanting to hear the stones cry out.
While the donkey trudges ahead
Wobbling up the Roman road in silence.
Wobbling up the Roman road in silence.
October 2013
Read the stories behind each stanza: The Temptation, The Woman Taken in Adultery, The Triumphal Entry
New Year
- Details
- Written January 2013
And there was evening, and there was morning. [1]
The first chime of Big Ben ushers in the new
Upon a nation waiting for the old to die
With nanosecond precision in the tick of a clock
Heralding twenty thirteen on the meridian:
Pole to pole, north-south through Greenwich,
Dividing east from west, and us from them
With man-made lines placed on the planet,
So that which did not exist comes into being
With this year’s calendar, as time meets eternity.
While the Maker surveys the year that’s gone
Saying, yes, it was good, even very, very good
And though unknown whether there’ll be a tomorrow,
Blesses not just the revellers of Parliament Square,
But all of creation with unending grace.
January 2013
Image of Big Ben, by courtesy: Neil Vannett
Snakes and Ladders
- Details
- Written July 2013
Beside a stepping stone become the head-rest
For the upwardly-mobile, hard-headed ladder-climber
Helped up by angels striding two at a time;
Those left behind seeing only calloused feet
And a soul toughened by relentless ambition
With hardly time to rest at night.
While offspring of the Garden of Eden writhe,
Cold-blooded creatures with a bite, not a bark,
Curled up in the warmth of a summer’s day
Waiting for prey, tattooed across the torso
Willing to shed or save their own skin
In the updating process of make-over
And the endless deception of fashion.
But the climber dreams of yet higher heights,
Hopes ever frustrated by ensnaring entanglements,
Head still in the clouds, damned by desire;
Tripped up by aspirations and a Freudian slip,
Taking life’s chance with the throw of the dice,
But paralysed by a poison that lets him down
And shows he’s a fallen creature after all.
Angels and serpents disappear; the dream dies,
But down the ladder comes an ordinary man,
Earth-bound from above, among us in real-time,
Saying: Leave the stone, there’s work to be done;
We can manage without a ladder.
Let’s get going; I’ll go with you.
And deal with that deceiving serpent as we go.
Read the story of the serpent in the Garden of Eden and also Jacob's dream.
The Visitation
- Details
- Written June 2012
Wanting to expand vision,
Magnifying Maker into Saviour
Who calls us to the joys
Of sharing a greater task.
Your angel stands by me
In the travail of the soul
Ministering hope and purpose
In uncomfortable moments
'Midst the grief of gradual loss.
Your angel cleaves to me,
Gently cradled by forearms
Enfolding us with love
In the confusion of divine mystery
Whose depths we long to know.
June 2012
After a Bible Study Series led by Norman Howe on the theme: ‘The Deep Things of God.‘ 1 Cor 2: 10
An angel visited Mary (Luke 1); an angel ministered to Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22); and in the desert, after severe testing (Matt 4)