Thursday 25 October 2012

Lessons from Eleanor Miette.

              For all my grandchildren, with love.


This little girl bends now to gently kiss
A picture of a teddy in a book;
I see her tenderly turn to her soft toys
And reach for them with adoring look.

I think of this child of eleven months
Whose mind does rapidly grow and change,
Who now seeks things to fondle and love
As she expands and extends heart’s range.

So my older mind now begins to think
That the progression of life should be
An endless journey towards care and love,
The beginning of which I in this infant see.

I think too of the vanity of age,
That awful rigidity of the mind,
Which, in its opinionated pride
Is so deceitfully and wilfully blind.

Sad that such vanities the canker grows
Of inflexible and arrogant pride,
So years that should be reflective and wise
Are where sad and ugly things reside.

Strange and complex is this human heart,
This generator of feeling sublime,
This mixture of selfish folly and love,
Where dark feelings too twist and entwine.

The human heart should be a place,
Where good and beautiful things abide,
Where the fruits of the spirit are nurtured
While breath in the body resides.

Great knowledge may be a gift to desire,
So too a brilliantly penetrating mind,
But more desirable than these is one
That is always teachable, patient and kind.

I look at Eleanor Miette as she smiles
And her tender heart shimmers and shines.
O let her be flexible, gentle and loving,
Give her feelings compassionate and refined.

Thursday 18 October 2012

The Streets of Woe



I hear a brittle shallow laughter
Echoing through these streets of woe,
See the tears, the ache, the sorrow
Behind its neon, electric glow,

Hear the incandescent spin
Behind the flickering deceit,
Hear beneath the tinseled glitter,
The loss, the sorrow, the defeat,

Hear the peddling of many lies,
See the headlong rush for gain,
See the hollowed, hopeless stares
Veiling the emptiness and the pain.

O Lord Jesus, come, come quickly,
Unbind these chains and set us free,
Lift the veil of doubt and sorrow,
Wash us, bathe us with your liberty.

Let your reign be as is promised,
Let the poor and oppressed rejoice,
Let Death be swallowed up in victory,
Let the earth resound in exultant voice.

Let Eden be restored again,
Let all creatures great and small
Dance and sing in deepest joy,
Let the great Creator be all in all.

Monday 8 October 2012

Negative Thoughts.




I think you into a helium balloon
And set you floating high
For you being but a thought
Are even lighter than the sky.

Strange now how light I feel,
Strange how you my mistress were,
Strange how I loved your tight embrace,
Loved too the costs you did incur.

Strange how I fed and cared for you,
Now that I have come to know
That I can choose your dark embrace
Or I can choose to let you go.

So I choose to cast you out,
To set you floating high,
For you are unwanted and unloved
And for the moment bid goodbye.