The Church: Provisional but Necessary
What life have you if you have not life together? There is no life that is not in community, And not community not lived in praise of God. Even the anchorite who meditates alone, For whom the days and nights repeat the praise of God, Prays for the church, the body of...
For the blood of thy martyrs and saints shall enrich the earth, shall create holy places. For wherever a saint has dwelt, wherever a martyr has given his blood for the blood of Christ, there is holy ground, and the sanctity shall not depart from it though armies...
A serious house on serious earth it is, In whose blent air all our compulsions meet, Are recognised, and robed as destinies. And that much can never be obsolete Since someone will forever be surprising A hunger in himself to be more serious, And gravitate with it to...
I admire the Bishops of the Church of England No man can be a Bishop of the Church of England And a fool. A man can be a Bishop of the Church of England And a knave. But Fortunately Few if any of the Bishops of the Church of England Are men of ill will. They do their...
Such love I cannot analyse; It does not rest in lips or eyes, Neither in kisses nor caress. Partly, I know, it’s gentleness And understanding in one word Or in brief letters. It’s preserved By trust and by respect and awe, These are the words I’m feeling for. Two...
Oh, the comfort – the inexpressible comfort Of feeling safe with a person, Having neither to weigh thoughts Nor measure words, But pour them out, just as they are, Chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand Will take and sift them, Keeping what is worth...
At last the secret is out, as it always must come in the end, The delicious story is ripe to tell the intimate friend; Over the tea-cups and in the square the tongue has its desire; Still waters run deep, my friend, there's never smoke without fire. Behind the corpse...
A people without history Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern Of timeless moments. So, while the light fails On a winter’s afternoon, in a secluded chapel History is now and England. With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling We...
The fineness which a hymn or psalm affords Is when the soul unto the lines accords. He who craves all mind, And all the soul, and strength, and time, If the words only rhyme, Justly complains, that somewhat is behind To make his verse, or write a hymn in kind....
For the blood of thy martyrs and saints Shall enrich the earth, shall create holy places. For wherever a saint has dwelt, wherever a martyr has given his blood for the blood of Christ, There is holy ground, and the sanctity shall not depart from it Though armies...
We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Through the unknown…. But heard, half-heard, in the stillness Between two waves of the sea…. And all shall be well and...
In this great absence that is like a presence, that compels me to address it without hope of a reply. It is a room I enter from which someone has just gone, the vestibule for the arrival of one who has not yet come. R.S. Thomas...