I leave aside my shoes, my ambitions undo my watch, my timetable take off my glasses, my views unclip my pen, my work put down my keys, my security to be alone with you, the only true God. After being with you I take up my shoes, to walk in your ways strap...
Christ the Lord has sent me Through the midnight lands, Mine the ordination Of the nail-pierced hands. Hannah Hurnard (1905-90).
… As to my heart that may as well be forgotten or labelled; Owner will dispose of same to a good home: refs exchgd., h.& c., Previous experience desired but not essential, Or let on a short lease to suit convenience. Basil Bunting (1900-85), Personal...
From our low seat beside the fire, Where we have dozed and dreamed, and watched the glow, or raked the ashes, stopping so We scarcely saw the sun and rain above or looked much higher than this same quiet red and...
There’s a single destiny in this life – Not to be sailing ships or writing plays in a bustling Age of Discovery but to growing Self in selflessness. Never ego-ridden or glamorous, neither polemical nor persuasive, just becoming, so that the world won’t be lost. A...
Be still my soul and steadfast. Earth and heaven both are still watching though time is draining from the clock and your walk, that was confident and quick, has become slow. So, be slow if you must, but let the heart still play its true part. Love as once you loved,...
What I loved in the beginning, I think, was mostly myself. Never mind that I had to, since somebody had to. That was many years ago. Since then I have gone out from my confinements, though with difficulty. I mean the ones that thought to rule my heart. I...
It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don’t try to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another...
Go in search of your people, Love them; Learn from them; Plan with them; Serve them; Begin with what they have; Build on what they know. But of the best leaders, When their task is accomplished, The people will all remark: ‘We have done it ourselves’. Lao Tsu...
Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper…? I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been...
What is the difference Between your experience of Existence And that of a saint? The saint knows that the spiritual path Is a sublime chess game with God And that the Beloved Has just a Fantastic Move That the saint is now continually Tripping...
Translate our prayers He whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow When I attempt the ineffable name, murmuring “Thou” And dream of Pheidian fancies and embrace in heart Symbols (I know) which cannot be the thing though art. Thus always, taken at their word, all prayers...