Thursday 18 November 2010

Name

Early breaths,
suddenly alone
they buried my shadow
in a churchyard womb.
Borrowed time.
Named after some boyhood friend
of an older brother
from another clan.
Borrowed name.
Call me what you will
but my shadow clings
tighter than the name.
We share a life,
each stolen breath
a sentence,
a judgement,
a tear - silent spoken.
Call me what you will;
we have another name
my sister and I
shared
in the womb of eternity.
Rotting flesh and the press of earth
neither separate nor heal
but call our name.

Monday 6 September 2010

Therefore

Therefore

There,
in the congregation of all pain,
lofted in early eternity,
the darkness gathered -
a hill, a cross, a grave.

There for
a dark eternity of pain,
in the assembly of souls,
alpha and omega meet
to witness for once, for all.

Therefore
‘God has lifted Him
to the highest place.’
Salvation loosed -
a lifeboat
on a tempest sea.

There
for
me.

Monday 7 June 2010

Hand

HAND

I hold fate -
the embrace or slap
the tender touch and painful poke.
I guide the pen that writes
the peace treaty
the cheque that buys guns
the poem of love
the poison of libel.

I grip the hand of a troubled friend
or push the back of foe.
I have what I hold
or give what I have,
retain or release.

I am the forked tongue
of a snake
in the grass
of everyday.
I leave guilty prints
in each life I touch.

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Thursday Night

Thursday Night in an olive grove
Luke 22 v 39-46

After the meal,
the banter,
the revealing,
a walk in the night air
to clear the head.
In a grove of olives,
unready as half grown fruit,
He searches for His Father’s will
a sense of unfinished business
searing His soul.
Man-sense and God-sense
at war within Him.

Alone again.

The captain of a ship
with unripe crew
and a sinking feeling.

This can’t be right,
they are not ready,
this storm cannot be stilled
with quiet authority.
This is God stuff.
This is the agony of time
within a frame unconfined by days
yet destined for the breakers yard.
This is a pivot of eternity
and they are not ready
to be alone.
Alone as gods are.

Alone as We are.
Alone as You make Me.
And I am not ready
but Yours is the
power
the glory
and the will
to which I surrender.