Where is that place apart
you summon us? Noisily
we seek it and have no time
to stay. Stars are distant;
is it more distant still,
out in the dark in the shadow
of thought itself? No wonder
it recedes as we calculate
its proximity in light years.
Maybe we were mistaken
at the beginning or took later
a wrong turning. In curved space
one can travel for ever and not recognise
one’s arrivals. I feel rather
you are at our shoulder, whispering
of the still pool we could sit down
by; of the tree of quietness
that is at hand; cautioning us
to prepare not for the breathless journeys
into confusion, but for the stepping
aside through the invisible
veil that is about us into a state
not place of innocence and delight.
‘Wrong?’
R.S.Thomas
Holy. Holy. Holy. Hale. Heal. Whole.
As I come again to celebrate how the Holy One is with me, with us, with the earth, with the cosmos, may my seeingdarkly be deepened so I can ‘step aside through the invisible’ today. May I glimpse, recognise and encounter You, face to face, in whatever and whoever is ‘at hand’ before me today. May I hear my heart’s desire to ‘seek … and stay’ and be wholed, healed, by You.
With all Christmas blessings on you, and in deep gratitude for your pilgrim company beside me on the journey of this Advent,
Kate
the tree of quietness. Canon 7D. f5.6. 1/13. ISO 100.
image into ikon 