Tag Archives: loss

Of all Faith’s gifts

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Of all Faith’s gifts, the one I sorely miss
Is that quiet lifting of the mind and heart
In unselfconscious praise, the soul of prayer,
Those inner songs of joy, all gathered up
And, with a child-like faith, deposited
With love and longing in the lap of God.

Where else and to which ear can I proclaim
The beauty of the mountains under snow,
The faithfulness and glory of the stars?
To whom commit for healing and support
The ailing body or the anguished mind,
To whom entrust the passing of our days?

The Psalmist’s songs are mine yet in my mouth
The words ring hollow and the blessings vain.
When intellect denies the heart’s desire
And reason takes its pure but ruthless path,
The anthems die away and in their place,
Like ivy on a wall, the silence grows.

May 1989

Parents, grandparents …

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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.

Solo Journey

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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