And I am caught by wonders of new birth, Not knowing yet how quickly all things die, Assuming as I run that I can fly, That life springs always out in vibrant mirth. Still all my dreams are equal in their worth; The clouds collect expectant in the sky, With promises and oceans to supply,Continue reading “Clouds and Crowns No.6”
Category Archives: Poetry
Clouds and Crowns No.5
The overture of forests, dead, remade, Whispers pianissimo through leaves. Although the burnt-out wilderness still grieves And ashen dust hangs densely in the shade, The smallest stems of green, a micro-glade, Peek out through fire-black trunks in smoky breeze, The first-fruits of our chlorophyll reprieves, The peaceful eye after the storm is paid. All thisContinue reading “Clouds and Crowns No.5”
Clouds and Crowns No.4
And nothing pure dies when safe in truth, For truth and life flow from the same deep spring, Restoring, making new each broken thing, Our death and dying fading into youth. And if our doubting hearts required proof, The flowers promise too what time can bring: A crown of roses for a weary king AndContinue reading “Clouds and Crowns No.4”
Clouds and Crowns No.3
And You can reign, though nailed to a tree, A truth my mind cannot as yet contain, Defying my small child’s concept of “reign”, A word that conjures up the king in me: King of the hills, imagination’s sea; The waves cow-tow, the soil receives my train, My dreams subduing everywhere I deign To stretchContinue reading “Clouds and Crowns No.3”
Ascension Day
Well, today is Ascension Day and so this marks the very last poem for my Swelling Year project. When I first set myself the task of writing a poem for every day of the liturgical calendar, it seemed to both me and to others to be biting off substantially more than I could chew. Well,Continue reading “Ascension Day”
Clouds and Crowns No.2
The promise of green pastures, quiet streams Beckons me, Your shepherd’s hand not far; And so I wander, safe wherever You are, Your sun delighting with its kindly beams, The radiance of Your bright fire; it gleams And glistens, heaven’s welcome door ajar, Sunset splitting sky, a perfect scar. And how it is that YouContinue reading “Clouds and Crowns No.2”
Clouds and Crowns No.1
As part of a bigger sequence of poems that I’m working on, here is the first of a seven-part poem that I will be writing and posting over the next week: a crown of sonnets, a series of interlinking sonnets in which the final line of each sonnet forms the first line for the next.Continue reading “Clouds and Crowns No.1”
Walking With God – William Cowper
For the past eighteen or so months I’ve been working my way through William Cowper and John Newton’s Olney Hymnbook, setting the less well-known hymns to new tunes. The recordings I have made are not particularly high quality – I don’t have any fancy equipment to record them with. But here is my recording ofContinue reading “Walking With God – William Cowper”
Power Perfected in Weakness (After William Cowper’s “Light Shining Out of Darkness”)
Perhaps the most influential poem that William Cowper wrote was this hymn, “Light Shining Out of Darkness”, which contributed the phrase “God moves in a mysterious way” to the English language. The poem has a very simple, consistent rhythm and rhyme to it not found commonly in poetry today, but it also contains some ofContinue reading “Power Perfected in Weakness (After William Cowper’s “Light Shining Out of Darkness”)”
12 Poets #2: William Cowper
Christian literature has few stories as troubling as that of William Cowper, the eighteenth-century poet and close friend of John Newton of “Amazing Grace” fame. A long-term depression sufferer who attempted suicide multiple times and died in despair, his is hardly an uplifting story. Yet it produced some of the most beautiful – and, often, comforting –Continue reading “12 Poets #2: William Cowper”
The Consolations of Writing 