In the valley of bones, I wait in the dryness, The dryness of bones, the dryness of wind Blowing on bones. In my valley of bones, my bones sit and hear The voice in the wind, a voice like the wind Calling to my bones. Speak to the bones; speak to my bones, Wind ofContinue reading “Wind in the Valley (Pentecost Sunday)”
Author Archives: Matthew Pullar
Pentecost, 597
Today’s poem recognises the work of Augustine of Canterbury and the monks sent by Pope Gregory in the 6th century to convert England. Augustine (not to be confused with his more famous African namesake) is perhaps most famous for converting King Ethelbert of Kent, a king significant both for having a marvellous name and alsoContinue reading “Pentecost, 597”
Poems for Bede
Today is the day when the Anglican Church remembers the great medieval historian Bede of Jarrow, or the Venerable Bede. I found myself inspired by my reading on him today to write two poems about him, one silly, one serious. Here, for good measure, are they both. I. The Venerable Bede, we know, Was ignorant,Continue reading “Poems for Bede”
The Quadrilateral (For John and Charles Wesley)
“That being rooted and grounded – That is, deeply fixed and firmly established, in love. Ye may comprehend – So far as an human mind is capable. What is the breadth of the love of Christ – Embracing all mankind. And length – From everlasting to everlasting. And depth – Not to be fathomed byContinue reading “The Quadrilateral (For John and Charles Wesley)”
Untitled Poem
As dust collects, the moon appears and hovers over playing fields, the grass awash in opal green, the leisure of the dying day. A collar and a tie drop down into a pool of splash-making my not shed from my am, and yet fragments misplaced on the way. And dust collects, head soonContinue reading “Untitled Poem”
The Need For Light
Retinas on waking crave the sun’s warm rays upon their backs. Without the radiance of day, the messages they send us speak of early morning weariness And skin cells cry, small children, at being ripped from bed too soon. They know the signs of night and long for rest until the sun’s day heatContinue reading “The Need For Light”
The Diminishing Twelve (For the Sunday Before Pentecost)
The number diminishes: First twelve, then two, The rest far gone, Consumed into The enemy, the juggernaut. Promises of restoration Dangle awkwardly in the wind. Yet the time will come; it won’t Delay. It surely is soon here. The time will come when From the winds of all directions, Men will come and worship inContinue reading “The Diminishing Twelve (For the Sunday Before Pentecost)”
The Taper, the Tongs, the Devil and Saint Dunstan
(After The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine) The historical St. Dunstan will benefit us if we study his career with an impartial love of right, and hatred of wrong, wheresoever found. But the legendary St. Dunstan? He and such as he will do us no good if, overlooking the grave lesson of self-conquest andContinue reading “The Taper, the Tongs, the Devil and Saint Dunstan”
The Still Advance
Blank spaces yawn where thoughts belong. Vertigo drops heads and lifts them With sudden jolts of indecision. Daytime lags and lengthens, A lazy prairie field of quiet companions; But night welcomes with the arms of a brother. Street lights flicker; Drowsy minds falter and snap to attention. Time, in all its broken glory,Continue reading “The Still Advance”
A Prayer
The day’s excess leaks from recesses Of bones and punctured consciousness; Minds, overflowing, soak up dust, Expunging it at the day’s burst end. If, draining outwards, I should falter, Let these faint words staunch the flow; Let this vapour prayer waft upwards; Let it mix with air and wine As IContinue reading “A Prayer”
The Consolations of Writing 