They have now gone from us,
Those all-protecting ones,
The angels by the bed,
The guardians at the gate.
This is Life’s promotion!
Step by reluctant step
We move forward daily
To take their place.
At the close of a summer’s day,
Far, far down the beach
At the ebb-tide’s turning,
To sand, sea and wind
We committed them,
Ashes to ashes,
Human dust to dust,
Memories to sand.
When I consider the genetic maze
Which brings me to the rising of this day
And count, as stars across the winter sky,
The obstacles to Life along the way,
Then do I worship at the shrine of Chance
And flowers of ardour on her altar lay.
Let me not cease my grateful praise to sing
And, by my living, Life’s oblation pay.
18th January 2001
I have pulled away from the shores of faith
And made for the open sea,
With the wind of reason cold in my sails
But no sirens calling me.
I have left behind the dogmas of youth
With their golden certainties.
No more for me at each end of the day
The comforting liturgies.
In the misty regions of un-belief
Where master and boat are one,
Without sextant, compass, landmark or stars
I must navigate alone.
But an aching grows in the heart of me
And a sadness fills my mind
At the thought of promises shared no more
And traditions left behind.
I’ll travel no more the Emmaus road
Nor see in faith’s cloudless light
A saviour revealed by the breaking of bread
In an inn at the fall of night.
In my questing to find the Tree of Life
Across the uncharted sea,
Perhaps I will find, when journeying’s done,
That its roots are anchored in me.
1988
I have a homing instinct for the stars 