powerless-ness

still point

silent static

tremble upon it

and just

be …

abundant entrance

not washed up on the shore
from the shipwreck of your life ...

saved but gasping for breath on the beach
your cargo sunk to deepest depths
of stormy seas  ...

but ah, to sail safely into port with a full load

we long for Your appearing

self-existent One
rolls out the years
lifts the burden of time
casts down the high places
restores the years the locusts have eaten
covers the vulnerable
saves the lost
finds the ones who have wandered away ...

self-existent One
clothed in clouds
hiding Your glory
in a woman's womb
revealed in bloody flesh
walking dusty streets
suspended in time
a pendulum that just stopped ...

going down, down
swallowed by the earth's core
ingesting swathes of darkness as You went
Your singular way ...

eternity rolled out
from the rising of the self-existent One
who existed, exists
hidden in the womb of many hearts ...

righteous rain

righteous rain beats against my window
I've slept through it most often
stayed inside so as not to get wet
waiting, waiting for sun and birdsong

righteous rain will disperse food mountains
wash away blood in the streets in a war-torn obscure African state
will carry the murdered Armenian editor down the river to the open seas
to a better place

righteous rain will flood every personal desert
causing whole villages to be built
industries to arise
and engendered deep contemplations under the clear night sky.

why, why was it good?

the dark must have been so much more than physical
swelling from within, descending from without

the pain must have been so much more than material
a knife piercing right through, renting body, soul and spirit

and yet, yet it is called a good day
a doorway through to that searing place

beyond which is the new day
springing out of terrible dying

near and far

God You are so near
keep me safe in a world storm-torn
upon the path soul-worn
please may I stay collecting wisdom
like berries into a bowl

God You are so near
touch my face again
like a loving mother
before language
beyond words

God You are so near
walking, running, sitting, rising
shining now in my darkening darkness
the only One who can guide me home

You are the calm, the Great Silence
within which I am heard
seen in the stillness of Your gaze

forgive the lack of attention, distraction
shaky foundations
for being drawn to the dangerous light
like a moth instinctively heads for the naked flame

but to step into the everlasting fire
and to live within the knowledge
that You return to the world
through me