He is the spring

He is the spring, and my heart is blooming

His gentle light a nourishing sun unfolding my petals

My heart shines dewy against the altar of dawn

 

There was too much darkness when there was he

Who was my winter. I untie the web he wove upon me

Familiar, it must go

 

For he is the spring, and he is here

My hand reaches out to him as if to say

“Take me with you when you walk through purple clover”

 

So – glow gold vernal light

And burst forth pastel blossoms

Behold! the earth: green and holy

Walk free from darkness and return

Sweet-innocent to new light

Earth Grace

I needed this quiet, to remember myself

To let the soul expand and occupy its fullness

To bed down in the soft cool pleats of solitude

And roll, singly, in luxurious infinitude.

I needed this time, to regather what I thought lost

To sing myself, in silence, back to soul music

To nurture the far reaches of my spirit branches

And rest, unencumbered, in the arms of earth grace

To you, dear women, of Strong Heart Clan

To you, dear women, of Strong Heart Clan,

Who battle-torn do pray for peace,

Who bear your souls to roaming beasts,

And stroke the paws that tear your flesh,

To you, dear heroines, mothers, wives,

Who hearty, steady, deeply give,

Whilst none the wiser of demise

Those creatures who you filled with breath,

With life, with soul, your healing balm,

And who, restored, find greener things,

Unconscious of your sacred cause,

Who credit their imaginings,

Whilst you, in peace and quiet go,

Unknown, to still more praiseless lands,

And yet will rise another time,

In war and love, to give your hand.

 

Where the lantern burns

Blessed

Place of heart salvation

Place of shipwreck discovery

Place of life force

 

Sacred

Place of brute resurrection

Place of bleak reversal

Place of doomed blossoming

 

Holy

Place that brings a promise

Place that stays and soothes

 

You sing

my soul back to healing

my eyes to seeing, my ears to hearing

my hands to feeling, my heart to being

 

Yes, being

In this place

Place of deep love, where

Love is always enough

Visitation

God, you came to me as Satan

Enrobed in darkness, weeping

Under wounds of human sin

 

God, you filled these boys with horror

Pent, amongst the turmoil

Of things they could not comprehend

 

God, they asked me for salvation

Hurt, and hurting others

Like drab Angels festering

 

And God, I have tried

 

To bleed some of the venom

To bear these heavy burdens

Break light on little things

 

But God, I am only little

Minute amongst the masses

And I can but scrape the sting

Blessed Honour

That calm descends upon the heart

And we are washed in remembering

Our place in almighty wellness

Like the certainty of dawn

Don’t you feel it?

The heaven under your skin

The stars in your heart

Universe of hope

We are waiting…

Begin

Don’t you remember?

You were she who rose

Like the certainty of dawn

To brightness and creation

Sweeping darkness like cobwebs

From the staircase of truth

Show and tell

The night is young

And all manner of things

Are chirping in the stillness

There Have Been Nights (a poem)

There have been nights

When that one kind deed was enough

To sustain a soul-fire and keep it breathing

Deep in the grate,

When all around was embers

And coal sat cold, blackened

In the dark hearth, but the heart

Ticked on quiet and slow,

Rested on needles, but resting still,

There have been nights, there have,

And so, there have been days.