But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. (Luke 1:29) Magnify, soul. Let mind expand; let heart Take in what cannot be contained. Discern, Yet know the limits of your thoughts. Return Again, again, to faith. Take humble part In grandest story. This isContinue reading “20 Contemplations #4: Magnify”
Category Archives: Poetry
Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 3
Glory to your coming that restored humankind to life. (Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns of the Nativity) Because of the shadows, we miss our brother’s face, our sister’s gaze. The pace of the crowd moves us forward. If you reached out to touch my garment, I would not feel. This power departs us daily:Continue reading “Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 3”
20 Contemplations #3: Downward Flight
…who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant… (Philippians 2:6-7) He wraps Himself in light. He orders stars And plunges to depths unseen since Adam. Watch the flurry of clouds; watch each atom’sContinue reading “20 Contemplations #3: Downward Flight”
20 Contemplations #2: The Colour of Light
He also made the stars. (Genesis 1:16) No twinkle. This is something terrible: Flaming gas, explosive with bright thunder. Scan the night sky, make a wish and wonder; Yet it can destroy galaxies at will. At will, He directs it. See it twinkle Before Him, docile, obedient under His hand. It knows His voice whichContinue reading “20 Contemplations #2: The Colour of Light”
Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 2
…as if He were a seed in our garden, or a small flash of light for our pupil, He shone forth and diffused and filled the earth. (Saint Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns for the Nativity) Days crack like soil. In the parts of the world where summer parches we wait like potholes for the rain.Continue reading “Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 2”
Hidden Grace
Senseless acts of beauty went unnoticed as the runners ran and golfers golfed and my head span. Full of self I stormed upon the beaten earth and missed the shades of microscopic brown and green, the flower hidden in the leaves, the pounding in the runner’s ears, the grace which binds me to these yearsContinue reading “Hidden Grace”
Sonnet for the Armchair Geographers
You may be right, Eratosthenes…but you are not right when you take away from [Homer] his great learning, and declare that his creativity is the mythology of an old woman…Homer tells myths more accurately than later mythological authors, not totally recounting marvels, but for the sake of knowledge. (Strabo, Geography) Our first aim was accuracy:Continue reading “Sonnet for the Armchair Geographers”
20 Contemplations #1: Colours of the Father
What do you see? He is invisible Yet all creation knows Him. Listen: The birds slow their flight for Him; leaves glisten In all His coloured light. Impossible Strains of symmetry glide through chaos: simple In their dignity, yet rich in vision. Catch the smallest glimpse, the grandest impression: He is more – glorious, indivisible.Continue reading “20 Contemplations #1: Colours of the Father”
No Waste
Flights delay; schedules must be rearranged. Pause in the park; there is nothing else nearby; though sickness and tiredness lag our legs and this message must be read, that query returned. All the dead time of the week, all these fragmented moments – purpose evades when we have no control. Yet moments ripple when weContinue reading “No Waste”
Damascus Road: Midday
Indeed, my friends, let us not forget in our wakefulness… (Saint Ephraim the Syrian, Hymns of the Nativity) Do I assume this peace? Some peasants once, I am told, when they had had enough of false liberty, took cobblestones and made them missiles. And men of another age were warned that their panelled houses couldContinue reading “Damascus Road: Midday”
The Consolations of Writing 