Ah, we have whipped our wingsfor long now,fluttered ourselves to stillness,come back down to calm,the heart beating hard in the breast,coming home. And we have brought our wings in.We have after speakingand tearing the airin frantic movement,come to a sudden lack of words,to exhaustion. Everything has knocked us –like a windstorm,that the stuffing is showing … More A Poem: Feathers

Your presence abides.Like the rockoff which the water runs. Your presence sitsas the birds flock near,undisturbed. Your presence lies surrenderedand therein finds its strength,in undoing. We ask questionsflung into the night,dark – asking,which star to draw downhas the answer written? But you sitabiding,a rock in the river running. Your presence beckoning,saying – ‘here, leave your … More A Poem: Presence

What’s it like to walk naked?What is it like to shedall the mechanismsthat hitherto served us,kept us enclosed? What is it like to decidenot to hide,like there is something to fearin being ourselves,something to protect,to shield others from? Yes, what is it like, to live?Carrying a light that illuminatesthe crevices, as though the shadowsharboured something … More A Poem: Naked

God loves us as mother, father.We must ask no-one else to do the tending. God says ‘I love you’.  Full stop. In that, is everything. We dance in relationship,mother, father, sister, brother,daughter, son. We dance alone. We dance estranged, at fingertips,in close embrace. Even then, God is mother, fathersister, brother. The ones we’ve been given,sought, … More A Poem: Full Stop

Ah, God does a new thingand tells us not to worry. He tries to tell us in therounding sun,the dark chased away. And if we doubt, he tells us in the recurring themesof restoration, the cycles of the daysand seasons. I know I get up earlyin the dark, ruminating, thinking it’s still yesterday. And God … More A Poem: A New Thing

I carry ribbonsin my pack of days.And when I reach a tree to define my path,I tie it round, mark a lesson,towering high. I wish it were so easy. Not the ways trodden with regrets,wisdom learnt in retrospect,footprints already settled deepin earth – and the journey,turning turning. That the colour glimpsed between tree leavesare ribbons … More A Poem: Marking the Path

Bread.We each are given bread. Not to consume. No, the bread we are givenis not for our own sustaining, although we will eat tooand be satisfied. No, the bread we each possess,risen like a dough kneaded, left to rise alonein its place – this bread is brought to lifethrough heat, baked and broken,torn to many … More Bread II

I see so many peoplecounting the cost. But beauty does not take a backward step,a departing bow. I think instead if we take up a chair,pull alongside, beauty serves us,washes our feet,pours out wine, anoints our hairwith oil. I see so many peoplemeasuring griefs. But beauty does not read chartsor statistics – just attends. Attends … More A Poem: Attention

Maybe there is a garden in my thoughts. I know my soul,in deciding what to do, will follow the way of lightthrough the trees,will seek the singing bird. Will kneel in the loam andthank the fallow earth for seeds,trust the winds. Yes, there is a garden in my thoughts.And I learn the seasonsby watching the … More A Poem: A Garden in my Thoughts

When we have learned to fall like the leaves, when we have learned to move like grassto the flow of wind, when we have learned to mountthe precipice, as a deer on a ridge – or as a dancer might pirouetteon the head of a pin – when we have learnedto blossom at the touch … More A Poem: Falling