Poetry
“And now we will have silence,” she says, eyes smiling.
Willingly, I acquiesce, loving the silence now notion.
But where is the Other in my clamouring …
Angelís feet, doomed never to feel the soil,
Silently sustain the grace of greeting
Treading the air without toil.
Maryís feet, in suspended gait,
One heel raised, toes …
In the corner of a war zone,
In the heat and dust,
I’ve watched it and marvelled.
How does it grow?
How does it flower without the rain?
Why …
Boys, white and black, in hoods with sticks and bricks,
with chaos making meaning in their night,
burn homes, torch cars, hurl oaths of loathsome fun.
And …
From the first prayers,
And dreams of my journey,
A silent voice
Has stood sentinel
Within my soul.
No answers given,
No miracles offered.
No blinding light
To penetrate the darkness.
No dogma …
Still waters, tranquillity, silence
see how the pretty churches witness:
withdrawal, parochialism and the inner self
while the prophets rage about injustice,
corruption and affairs of the market …
That was the day when you first came to me.
I’d never heard a voice like yours before,
or known truth uttered with such subtlety,
such clouded …
Branches once encased in December’s ice, like gigantic claws
Reaching up towards winter’s cold blue skies,
There is now only Him
Under the white sky.
The mountains shimmer,
The wind scours every cell,
The sand grained under His fingernails.
For the first time ever
He feels …
here we clergy are
sitting in a ring,
being friendly souls;
ecumenical
making jolly jokes,
nervous of ourselves,
shy of subjects too
theological,
anecdotes and smiles
risking very little
glancing round the room
sipping our …
