Communion

Have you ever sat in silent reverie

Whispering to yourself some secret soliloquy?

Drinking in God’s bounteous quaff

Of earthly charms and heavenly stuff?

Have you ever lain in the grasses green

Enjoying the flowers and perfumes unseen?

Adding beauty to a long summer’s day

In some silent, graceful, lovely way?

Have you ever blown kisses to the friendly wind

And heard in return the sparrow sing?

A song so sweet, so light and free

It made your heart as full as the sea?

Have you ever felt yourself a king

When love to you her heart did bring?

A love so rich, so full and pure

You felt all healed and whole and sure?

Have you ever sat in silent communion

Your spirit, your heart, your mind in union?

Knowing without the faintest doubt

That God, sweet God, is surely about?

God Feeds Us All

He does not count the bread, the sparrow

Has no provisions for the morrow

He sings his tune, perched on his bough

Thankful for God’s blessings now

The bees they flit, to flowers fly

Mindful only of honey nigh

Happy for this day to kiss

Gentle flowers…nothing they miss

The tree, she stands so strong and tall

Ever hearkening to nature’s call

Giving fruit and shade and perfumed shelter

To all God’s children who her way wander

If man is more full of God than these

Then never should he worry for his needs

The God who cares for creatures big and small

Has love enough to feed us all

The Brook

I wish I were a gurgling brook

Winding through the forest deep

Swishing round the sleeping nook

Where sunlit skies do rarely peep

I’d take my rich and laden sands

To sleeping hamlets small

Across the dry and barren lands

Hearkening to the peasants’ call

I’d give a drink to all God’s creatures

Uplift them on their way

For we may never share in future

A bright and precious day

What wide and wondrous arms I’d lend

To all within my reach

A sweet and joyful way I’d wend

My way to heaven’s beach

I’d sing and skip my way through storms

And magically bear

All the rocks and prickly thorns

Entrusted in my care

I’d ripple round the children’s feet

As they cast little pebbles

And chitter chatter in the heat

Of earthly pranks and troubles

All weary feet I would caress

And soothe with waters clear

All living things I’d equally bless

Cast off their doubts and fear

I’d listen to the lovers kiss

Sitting on my banks

Enjoying their enraptured bliss

I’d silently give thanks

I wish I were a brook all full

Of God’s unspoken grace

That I could pour upon the world

And bless its every place

Firefly

I flit and fly in places dark

And shed my light so small

I share my nights with the sleeping lark

With shadows big and tall

I am a little firefly

My days are numbered few

Small light I lend to passers-by

Of every fleck and hue

I flap my wings through darkened nights

I dance upon the wall

Enjoying all nocturnal sights

Of evening’s slumbered call

I carry in me a lantern burning

Fueled with God’s love

That brightens hearts amid the gloaming

A speck of His pure love

The Wind

I love the Wind, it blows, it sails

Across the sprawling lands

I feel it rushing as it wails

Through thickset bamboo stands

I love the Wind, it tickles me

Flying through my hair

Swirling off the salty sea

And moonlit sea-washed pier

I hear it whistling in the trees

As it goes dancing by

Making merry with rustling leaves

Up the mountains high

I love the Wind, it brings us near

Traversing distant shores

It takes my heart to my Love there

Through windswept corridors

I love the Wind, its merry chase

Of pigtails and of dresses

Scurrying quickly from place to place

Disheveling hats and tresses

I hear the rhymes of Wind God’s chimes

Sweet music tinkling by

They tell of love and praise sublime

Of Father God on high

Rain

I hear the rain beat on my window

Stampeding on the street

The rain it pours on eaves so low

Cooling down the midday heat

My mother sits beside the sill

Enjoying raindrops falling

Off the leaves and down the hill

The heavy rain is pouring

The rivers heave with swollen banks

Below the wooden bridges

Carrying along fallen leaves and planks

As the water swells and surges

Nature enjoins in her watery dance

All creatures big and small

The swaying flowers and windswept plants

All heed her rainy call

Peasants’ drums are full to brim

Water in abundance

Farmers’ praises in the wind

Of God’s sweet providence

The rains recede, the sun peeps out

The air is fresh and clean

Pedestrians start to walk about

A rain-washed country scene

Mother

“ Bless you Miss”, “I thank you Sir”

The lady said once more

For coins and bread they gave to her

As she went door to door

“ Good night Mother,” I softly said

“ Your feet have trudged a mile

Let me cool your weary head

And stay with you a while”

She turned to look across my way

Laid down her forlorn bundle

“O Mother come with me, I pray

And tell me of your trouble”

Her staring eyes, now fixed on mine

Looked icy cold and dark

“ It’s been so long, so long a time

Since someone stopped to ask

I had a home, some years ago

How long I can’t remember

My children come, my children go

I still remain their mother”

“ Children, Mother? You said you had?

And where are they today?”

“ Gone to hell, they both turn bad

No place for me to stay

Crime they turned to from an early age

When I was working hard

Their life was full of fight and rage

It made me old and sad

But now I live by the grace of God

He takes good care of me

Just now I prayed to the heavenly Lord,

‘ Please take my soul to Thee’

Let me join my wayward children

Wherever You have sent them

At least they’ll have a mother’s love, though friend

And foe despise them

Now I walk the streets alone

Begging for my bread

God knows I mourn, so much atone

For those my two sons dead”

I looked into these Mother’s eyes

And saw the world of pain

How much they cried and could not hide

Her daily suffering

She held my hand so gingerly

Afraid I might recoil

And looked at me so tenderly

Her dress all torn and soiled

“My child, God bless you for taking time

To talk with me a while

I need not food nor clothing fine

I only need your smile

The bread it fills a hungry hole

The coins they buy some drink

But no one stops to feed my soul

Or tarry a while to think

I drag my weary feet all day

In search of something more

Just one kind word, so hard to say

I wander door to door

My soul goes hungry for weeks on end

My body seldom does

Not one ear, one hand to lend

No glimpse or ray of love

So long I have not heard the word

You gently called me, ‘Mother’

No sweeter sound I’ve ever heard

I’m never worth the bother”

I pressed her head, her tired head

Against my shoulders there

And felt the weight of all she said

Her each and every fear

We stood there clasped in sisterhood

For just some moments few

This spark of love I’d hoped it would

Give her a spirit new

I touched this Mother’s feet, now resting

And met her eyes, all warm and tender

I thanked her for her special blessing

“ God bless you now dear Mother”

She smiled at me her toothless smile

And waved a faint good-bye

Her heart was full that little while

She left in spirits high