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”
Category Archives: Devotional
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)”
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”
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”
Broken Praise (Sixth Sunday of Easter)
On Sundays, I base my poems on the set readings for the day in the Anglican Liturgical calendar. One of today’s readings is Psalm 98, a very joyful psalm and one that can, perhaps, be hard to say with all integrity when not joyful oneself. Here is my approach to the problem. I hope, asContinue reading “Broken Praise (Sixth Sunday of Easter)”
Dame Juliana and the Mule (For Julian of Norwich)
(This poem comes with a thank-you to my friend Bei-En for providing the story about Julian shaking her fist at God.) All shall be well, she said, and all Manner of thing shall be well. And yet A story – perhaps apocryphal – Tells of one glum day, when she Went out upon a mountainContinue reading “Dame Juliana and the Mule (For Julian of Norwich)”
The Treasures of Candace (Fifth Sunday of Easter)
Go to the south of the road where In the wilderness sits one who Has seen his nation’s full wealth, Held in his hands the treasury key, Has borne the trust, the security Of Candace, his queen. Go to where he sits, treasure locked In between his hands. Hear him Ask, beg, plead to haveContinue reading “The Treasures of Candace (Fifth Sunday of Easter)”
The Least to the Greatest (For Saint James the Lesser)
The world will know enough about us, if it know this much: and even if the world know it not, it suffices so long as God knows it. (Christina Rossetti, Time Flies: A Reading Diary) In Portugal a statue stands Where with one hand he holds a flame And with the other he lifts highContinue reading “The Least to the Greatest (For Saint James the Lesser)”
Contra Mundum (For Athanasius of Alexandria)
He wrestled with the Emperors; His pillar stood firm, unshaking, While all around the edifice Quaked and quivered, prone to fall. The world threshed about like a serpent, Enthralling the Bride in its grip, And charmed bishops and kings with Its every sleek and fork-tongued word. And as the wand’ring minstrel sang Songs of theContinue reading “Contra Mundum (For Athanasius of Alexandria)”
The Consolations of Writing 