Tuesday 28 March 2017

Lent week 4

Example?
Outside our window a robin 
Sings, then it's time to forage: 
Diligently, relentlessly, he 
Seeks, finds, carries back to his bush
By the door, his flower bed treasures,
Old grass, dead stems, mini twigs
All in service to his nest.
Purpose drives him ever on wards
His song is of satisfaction.


                                                                     
                                                     Where next?
The sign post where I'm standing
Is rubbed out, weathered by years.
Its fingers point to ' road-closed',
A brand new highway and two paths,
Muddy, unclear with few prospects.
Which way to proceed?
I may be here a while
Waiting for God's hand
To point the right way.
In time to come perhaps I will
Look back and to this pilgrim marker, 
And know the choice was right.

Thursday March 23rd
 Westminster
Impulse or planned?
Madman or terrorist?
Seeking death and glory
Or muddled, twisted and sick?
Death stained Westminster yesterday,
Like Brussels, Nice, Paris, Madrid.
We hear about it, watch dumb
With horror and wonder what contorted
Narrative played in his head.
Was he free thinking or programmed
By puppet masters who have not 
Yet learned that humanity and 
Compassion  are stronger than hate?


March
Gardens are yellow in March:
Crocus first, starry celandine
Follow until the superstars, Daffodils, 
In their glorious assemblies, 
Raise their trumpets and holla
'Look at us'. Dandelions, lower
Down continue to multiply!
Meanwhile, hiding on the gentle
Primrose with its soft tones blending
A Brimstone feeds; the true
Herald of Spring has arrived.
  

Monday 20 March 2017

Lent week 3

Their inscrutable gaze

Pierces us with prehistoric questions.

When?
Trace the coils of an ammonite
From its outward swirl to centre
flourish; the gradual steps are like
trying to make a decision. The 
dips are the maze and murk until
a ridge is reached. Phew, firmer ground.
Moving closer to the core the
process goes on til suddenly
Certainty blazes into being.
The turning has stilled, and
exhausted, the mind has found rest.


Lent Week 3

Stretching over hills,

Trees march in formation 
Dripping olive riches.



Must
I must write to...
I must arrange...
I must tidy up,
Wash up, revise, sort
Garden, now the sun is bright.
This work ethic is unbalanced:
Why is sitting and 'being' so difficult?
I must add to my list, 'Be Still'.


Saturday 18 March 2017

Misinformation


Tightly contained in a chrysalis 
Miraculous changes take place,
Transforming a tubby caterpillar
Into a delicate butterfly.
But suppose the procedure
Was reversed, changed back,
Beauty pushed back into mess?
We are in such times
Truth has failed to hold
Morality is being submerged,
Sinking in the quick sands
Of today's 'Post Truth'.
The beast has been born.


Monday 13 March 2017

Lent Week 2

Cordoba
Steps make good seats to
text, read or dream; only
the casual passer by 
might stop and note the
glorious clash of Time:
An ancient Moorish doorway
Becomes a frame for the
Modern mundane time of peace.


Live Feed from the National Theatre

The theatre's a buzz;
We are watching them,
The audience thrill in waiting,
In the cinema, we're quieter
Still excited, as the lights dim.
All rustle to stillness
Ready to share the magic:
Borrowing emotions 
as if they were ours,
Theatre and cinema in unison.
Enthralled they laugh, we don't,
Worse, they watch, we don't
As transmission brakes. A
Blank screen breaks the spell,
We sigh, the film resumes shortly,
We strive to re- find enchantment. 

March 10th

Petals in the mud,
Owls seen in headlights,
Ideas breaking through muddle.

March 11th
Be a living stone
Bring life where there is deadness
Help the starved to eat.

Lent Week 2

STORM 

Puddles full of peaks,
Towers, droplets, sprays: rain makes
Water dance with joy.


Seville: the Orange Harvest
Imagine a square
Full of trees, full of oranges
Like children's pictures.
Branches are shaken and down
Tumble the oranges thudding 
On the sandy earth creating a rain
Of orange, and an aroma of jam.
But there was no marmalade for breakfast.


Gifts
Birdsong in the darkness,
A cake on the doorstep,
An unexpected smile.
But God's love exceeds all.



Monday 6 March 2017

Lent March 5th

Andalusia

Chattering of castanets,
a drumroll of heels on tiles,
fans, shawls, a fury of flounces,
outraged, distainful glances
and the flamenco erupts;
Worlds of bullfights and passion,
Lorca and blood are conjured.
Outside in peaceful order
grow lines of green olive trees.

Lent March 3rd

Alhambra Mirador (view)
Guitar rhythms strum,
crowds thrilled by the light
are awed in joint wonder
as the sun's final blaze
turns the pleasure fortress
grey, gold, amber, stone rich
then dull, then gone, then dark.

Lent March 2nd

 Early morning 
Hills, in ever lightening shades
Stretch to the far horizon 
As in a perspective lesson.
Mist erases foreground colour
In incremental stages,
Like losing the present 
in a cloud of the past.


Lent 2017 Week 1

Ash Wednesday March 1st
Córdoba: the Basilica Church of St Vicente lies at the foundations of the Mosque / Cathedral. When built it was used by both religions.


Look up, look beyond,
Muslim and Christian shared once,
The stones were God's House.