prayer – Page 7 – The Consolations of Writing

Quatrain

From a day of wandering and buzzing, My thoughts tangled up in their thrall, With vines of coiled hopes faintly budding – Dear God, straighten me; be my all.

If it is true, then what I see as debris, dross, may be somehow rearranged in You, an altar where Your praises sing and shine, though made of ash. For no-one but You has eyes to see the insides of the dark yet change its composites and make it bright. Only You who spokeContinue reading “Ex-Nihilo”

12 Poets #1: Despair (After George Herbert’s “Deniall”)

The next George Herbert poem I am going to respond to is one called “Deniall” (his curious spelling, not mine). It’s one of his darker poems, but also one of the best examples of his mastery of poetic form. 20th-century poet W.H. Auden wrote that Herbert possessed a “gift for securing musical effects by varyingContinue reading “12 Poets #1: Despair (After George Herbert’s “Deniall”)”

Octave for Unity (For Paul Couturier, Ecumenist)

And in His body we are all made one And pray by day and night that we may be, As He prayed for us in Gethsemane: One body, shining in Him like the sun. If we have any comfort, consolation From being in Him, this then is our plea:Continue reading “Octave for Unity (For Paul Couturier, Ecumenist)”

Desert Tears

This is the first in a number of poems that I am writing based around psalms that have been significant throughout my life. I am writing them as part of a memoir project in which I am using the psalms as a way of communicating my spiritual journey over the last few years. I hopeContinue reading “Desert Tears”

Common Prayer: A Sonnet for Thomas Cranmer

Even as a picture graven or painted is but a dead representation of the thing itself, and is without life, or any manner of moving; so be the works of all unfaithful persons before God. They do appear to be lively works, and indeed they be but dead, not availing to the eternal life. (ThomasContinue reading “Common Prayer: A Sonnet for Thomas Cranmer”