soundofmanywaters

    So I planted the garden for you. To guard it, a hedge of sweet myrtle, Within it, lily of the valley, rue and rose To keep me scented of you till you come. All through it of course there must flow A stream of limpid water, Running and singing and shining From a broken jar of clay.   And come at last you do – but why must you Ignore my gate, break down my hedge And trample my flowers? Why could you not linger on the lawn I laid for you, but must go straight ahead (my hedge again!), leaving only an irresistible scent, and the faint echo of a call?   So I followed in your steps, that led After many days to a high rugged hill And a torrent that thundered With the sound of many waters. Far away and small my shattered garden. It seemed you had a wider field to walk, Immersing me into a deeper stream.   And at the summit, you at last, Plainly waiting for me. “Lie down here. Gaze into heaven till it becomes...

    Come beauteous sleep O most reluctant bride Kiss my recurrent mind with bliss of oblivion.   Is there a word for that endless recycling of the same few inanities? Oh whisper the counter-curse!   Oh cut the chain that binds me to the surface in joyless bobbing and jinking: That I may slide into the deep.   Together we will search through swell and ebb and depth for the Peace that holds all wholeness and the Rhythm that is rest.

      Meaning and remeaning with the seasons, This is their art. They follow The Sun swelling in the East, The grub swelling in the ooze. They celebrate in vast carnival Wind, star, storm and bird-wing And the expense of themselves. They plan nothing: bird-blood beats in them: "We are and we are Yours."   But this thin line of words thrown out Along the sky-tide of Your will, Does it hold anything of You? Yet because I must learn You I shall outfly these birds.

    For your heart moved with me… For your feet hurrying after me… For your arms reaching out to me… For your gaze holding on to me… For your delight dancing over me… For your blood shed for me… For your body broken for me… For your life lived in me… For your family all around me… Thank you Lord.

    Two eyes two ears two hands two feet.   Two sexes two minds two masters we are cut in two.   Double agents double dealing doubled over double talk.   Dark descends. Between split pieces moves a blazing torch, a smoking brazier.   Two crosses stand on either hand one bitter enmity one timid solidarity.   Duplicity divided loyalty split identity broken heart.   Too broken To be mended by any One but You. The central two lines of this poem refer to a mysterious and solemn incident in Genesis 15:9-12,  17, where Abraham sacrifices three animals and cuts them in half, leaving a passageway between the pieces. I wonder whether this Bible passage was the inspiration for Damien Hirst's bisected cow installation where viewers pass between the severed halves. As the sun sets and darkness falls, a great awe and dread falls upon Abraham, and God Himself passes between the carcasses in the...

I was hot then. I flowed molten into the dark from his glowing mouth. He named me from his being: "I too am Rock." Brittly my stony voice tinkled into the wastes as I slowly cooled.  Then I out-sat aeons, my being all patience.  Now I wait here poised over darkness hoarding his wrecked body Till I become a mouth: and he speaks a new word into the void.

    The growl begins in the gut Pain and resentment fuel it Until fermented it chokes and burps Its way up. In the chest It sobs and sighs as sorrow Adds her keening to the noise. Somehow dodging the Censor Who knows it must never Ever be allowed to emerge It grabs hold of the throat And howls itself at the night…   Where it is heard by the True Human As he weeps over his city And rages at hardened hearts And arms himself for battle with the dark…   Man of sorrows, break my heart For what breaks yours, Let your passionate wrath be born Amid my petulant rumblings, Let my feeble tears mingle with yours that I may learn a love more deep and fierce than I can yet desire.   Then my song will seek the sun Grow wings and fly, scattering Notes that sparkle in your light And shower down upon a thirsty land. Acknowledgement: "Break my heart for what breaks yours" is a quotation from the song "Hosanna" / Hillsong ...