Sonnet

He drew up a marriage contract.
According to the law of Moses.
In marriage there is no certain fact.
Everything can get up our noses.

The only rule is compassion.
For those married and divorced.
All have a place in his mansion.
Nothing should be forced.

Communion should be for everyone.
Whatever their history or sexuality.
No one should have to be alone.
Love is the only reality.

Let us worry less about law.
And more about holding God in awe.

Haiku

Don’t worry with laws
Love everyone the same
Give the same to all

Sonnet

I desire to be delivered from earth.
And to become earth again.
Sometimes all is dearth.
All is marked with stain.

Why do I always see the negative.
My first thought on awakening.
Why cannot I be happy that I live.
Need I concern myself with the reckoning.

Let me see beauty in everything.
The day is cloudy, the sea green.
The shadows lengthen, old age‘s bell does ring.
I cannot grasp what it does mean.

But light shines through.
And calls to me too, all is true.

Haiku

The day does shorten
And mine too will come to end
But that is just fate

Sonnet

What about your own alms.
What about your good works.
We dwell on our own qualms.
But we should not worry about setting off fireworks.

We obsess about daily problems, mere passing breath.
But what of real end of life struggles and the last descent.
We will all confront pain, frailty and death.
Can we not enjoy the inadequate present.

Tobit was blinded.
By mere inadvertence.
But he doesn’t seem to have minded.
He knew what was of true importance.

May I be like the calm sea.
And learn just to be.

Haiku

Learn to be as the
Calm and blue sea far below
Still always moving

Sonnet

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
And my spirit exults in God my saviour.
Love is never lost only stored.
It is encompassed all about with grandeur.

I gazed upon the sea today.
It visits but never stays.
Ever changing blue, green, and grey.
Hiding its heart in distant gaze.

I feel it’s movement within me.
The moment it visits my heart.
It is the remorseless sea.
Engraved and remembered on the mind’s chart.

Even away I feel it’s presence.
Invading, soothing every sense.

Haiku

In every visit
A memory is yet stored
Like the sea it stays

Sonnet

Was there ever a word so majestic.
From one end of heaven to the other.
The Cathedral organ rang out in sounds mystic.
Looking at the great cross here was my brother.

I was dreaming I was involved in some spat.
I looked at the postcard picked up from the floor.
It was St Joseph looking at a cat.
His gentle gaze struck me to the core.

I am in my small London back yard.
A robin is going cheerfully about her business.
Endlessly moving, always on guard.
Yet at peace despite her fussy ness.

Three separate occasions.
Yet one message of hope filled lessons.

Haiku

Three occasions
Can still contain one message
Three then works in one

Sonnet

From her blossoming to the ripening of her grape.
My heart has taken delight in her.
Wisdom and nature shelter us under her cape.
The everlasting search is the spur.

At midnight in the garden all was still.
There was not a breath of wind.
There was not an ounce of chill.
With nature I was gently twinned.

So motionless I could be framed.
In some picture of the countryside.
All desires to free this moment tamed.
Gone all regret and pride.

But why do I need nature to stir me.
Can I not use my mind alone to keep me free.

Haiku

Does nature stir us
Can we not use just our mind
It does not matter

Sonnet

Some have left no memory.
And disappeared as though they had not existed.
Hamilton Hill is a place to tarry.
In memory men of faith executed.

I fear the grim reaper’s might.
But death is merely a dark tunnel.
You come into it from hazy light.
You emerge from it into eternity’s bright channel.

At the entrance is pain and fear.
In the middle it is utterly dark.
Then you see a speck of light as you shed a last tear.
You emerge where no one cares if you have left a mark.

So I promise I will not fear my passing.
Then I forget and again start worrying.

Haiku

Death is a tunnel
Light at the start and at end
Black in the middle

Sonnet

Deep within them.
I will plant my law.
Way within the deep we find a gem.
In the darkness deep I saw.

Watch the film My Octopus Teacher.
Here is a new light on this creature.
They can be our preacher.
And point to a sympathetic future.

More intelligent than we knew.
Even capable of physical contact.
In strangeness find something new.
Wisdom can come from a new fact.

I swim deep into the dark lake.
Protect the wild for pity’s sake.

Haiku

Swim in the deep lake
Protect wild all around us
It can teach us too

Sonnet

They were in a daze.
And those that followed were apprehensive.
We will all find our way through life’s maze.
As St Philip says, try being prayerfully festive.

I had had a difficult talk about relationships.
Then I swam pass the coot making her nest of wood.
Her mate was calmly helping with sticks, mud and snips.
Both were doing all they could.

Here was no argument.
No dispute about what needs to be done.
Just get on with the job, don’t resent.
The birds seemed to have lots of fun.

There is no need for sadness.
Only joy and hopefulness.

Haiku

The bird makes her nest
Helped by her mate in all things
No resentment here

Sonnet

O God who bring light
To your church.
Help us to see what is right.
Aid us in our never ending search.

I was dreaming about St Joseph in my prayer
And in my dream I saw a golden light.
He seemed to envelop me in care.
Telling me all was held in his sight.

Will we approach our end.
As serenely as the Bede.
Our few possessions happy to lend.
Our life’s work our seed.

I pray for his equanimity.
Knowing it will not outlive all extremity.

Haiku

I saw in prayer
A white and golden lightness
Enveloping me

Sonnet

Near the cross stood His mother.
And His mother’s sister.
Was she praying desperately to His Father.
As we now pray to the universal mother.

I was day dreaming about money in Mass.
Then the words of the Gospel.
Came through the the mind’s dark glass.
About the necessity of all to sell.

I pray that I may not want for myself.
That I may want for my children what they want.
That I may worry more about the other than the self.
That I may accept that I often just can’t.

But then after this prayer for what you want.
I just start repeating to myself what I want.

Haiku

Pray for what she wants
Rather than for what you want
Then keep repeating

Sonnet

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
And began to speak foreign languages.
A fire exists in us despite our lack of merit.
It uplifts the restful soul and quells rages.

But we cower in our own room.
A room of the lonely mind.
Taking solace in an occasional zoom.
But we only have to learn to be kind.

The message is there for all nations.
Despite every human created division.
If only we could all make peace oblations.
This is ours and only our decision.

I know what is the answer in holy writ.
I just find it Oh so hard to do it.

Haiku

There is a fire there
It is for all of mankind
We have to say yes

Sonnet

The Lord is in in His holy temple.
His eyes look down on the world.
Nature is more and stirringly ample.
Winters cold and wet sails are furled.

The Laburnum burns bright yellow.
The lilac spreads her purple haze.
Beneath the blooming apple bud all is mellow.
The lavender casts her many branched gaze.

It is May in the garden growing.
The tulips and daffodils are now sleeping.
But everything else is surging.
Primrose and bluebell are flowering.

But I am waiting for the Rose in her glory.
To tell Summer’s story.

Haiku

God is in nature
His word springs forth the lilac
And closes winter

Sonnet

They had some argument about a dead man.
Whom Paul alleged was alive.
Strange how these arguments fan.
From generation to generation hard as we strive.

What Festus the Roman judge.
Could not understand.
And could only misjudge.
Neither can we in our an age and land.

It is this dead preacher.
And whether He is still around.
Who is the question, He is yes, the teacher.
But is He our entire surround.

Festus just got rid of the problem and flit.
I think we should confront it.

Haiku

Is this dead man here
That is central question
To everything

Sonnet

That they may be one as we are one.
With me in them and you in me.
I wonder if we are not all one.
Father, you and me.

Are we not all one.
If we believe in the Father.
And in the son.
And in each other.

Are we not ourselves.
But a bit of everyone else.
In loving them we love ourselves.
And they love us and all else.

I pray that this I see.
I am them and they are me.

Haiku

I am truly them
And they are also me too
Then I can love them

Sonnet

Paul says I have never asked anyone for money or clothes.
The work I did earned enough to meet my needs.
He expresses himself in flawless prose.
But far greater are his deeds.

What does he say, exert yourselves to support the weak.
There is more happiness in giving than receiving.
But easier than doing good is to it speak.
Having comes easier than giving.

I am watching ‘Nomadland’.
Sometimes happiness comes with having less.
I wonder why we care so little in our own land.
Our own possessions bring only stress.

It’s enough to say, see you down the road.
Than worrying too much about our own abode.

Haiku

It’s enough to say
See you down the road than care
About our own home

Sonnet

Provided that I finish my race.
I have carried out the mission.
We may leave through the water little trace.
And it’s almost over our session.

A white sun sinks into the ocean.
The sky runs with yellow, orange, and blue.
We are towed gently to our berth, all done with emotion.
Our fighting days are finished, all retired the crew.

Our only value that of scrap.
Once we sailed beautifully on our own, now propelled by a dream.
We have completed our last lap.
Gently flows past us, life’s stream.

But trials and sorrows are nearly done despite any merit.
We are only soon to be a prisoner to mere spirit.

Haiku

We are prisoner
Only to mere spirit now
Our days are over

Sonnet

O give thanks to the Lord for He is good.
And his mercy endureth for ever.
The village church has no holy rood.
But the great tree through the window is restful mental food.

How I wondered could a Palestinian faith healer create a billion stars.
But where is the joy of aetheism.
It’s as if in the whole universe we see no further than Mars.
Asking where in atheism is the beauty of scripture is no truism.

It’s as if it poses one answer.
And then stops uninspired.
It’s as if it has one step, this dancer.
It can only play one card.

I started the day with calm meditation in a tiny church.
I ended this day with glorious evensong in Christ Church.

Haiku

Give thanks to the Lord
Love endureth for ever
For yes He is good

Sonnet

Having nominated two candidates Joseph known as Barnabbas.
And Matthias they prayed.
Poor Barnabbas a follower never prayed to in the mass.
For all time left in the shade.

For most of us that is our fate.
We must trust in our destiny.
We will find the right gate.
There is a goal mapped out for us, however tiny.

We rely totally on eye, nose and ear.
But listening to mass today, I felt strangely detached.
This is the future, one free from fear.
The door to eternity is not closed only latched.

But enjoy life, we shelter under roof and tile.
We are going to have to wait awhile.

Haiku

He does not belong
To the world anymore than
Us, conserve the truth

Sonnet

Proclaim his mighty works.
That called you out of darkness.
Somewhere in my mind fear of the future lurks.
It is rainy here now, all is not unalloyed brightness.

I was day dreaming sitting in my cottage conservatory.
Suddenly I was returning here in one hundred years.
All my precious things gone with the loss of my story.
Every piece of furniture, books, photos gone with my cares.

Outside there was a blinding cloudless blue sky.
My chaotic cottage garden now filled with neat Mediterranean plants.
Everything I loved severed by times remorseless tie.
No echo of my family survived here in ghostly chants.

I walked through where there had been a door, by a stranger talking to another.
He was oblivious to me, but as I passed by, he gave a shudder.

Haiku

We pass future time
But our time leaves no shadow
We are only here

Sonnet

They then drew lots.
And the lot fell to Matthias.
We wonder how we can unravel life’s knots.
It’s not necessarily about being pious.

Why do we think we are the best candidate.
We may think it’s ours to requisition.
Success may come not to the early but to the late.
Fate may hold good for obtaining any position.

With chance is it really just chance.
Or does God have a role.
We certainly move to God’s dance.
We may end up on top or down a hole.

Any success we have we should attribute to luck.
And give to pride what it deserves, the chuck.

Haiku

Success is not ours
It is what is given us
By chance or by God

Sonnet

Why are you men from Galilee.
Standing here looking into the sky.
No more than them can we see.
Nor now can we lie.

He has gone before us around the turn.
We cannot see him now.
But one day we hope he will return.
And we must return to the plough.

He disappeared into a cloud.
And our vision is hazy.
But there is so much of which to be proud.
It is our thinking which is lazy.

So we will keep trying.
Even though it’s all quite trying.

Haiku

It comes to belief.
Yes it it is all quite trying.
But I keep trying.

Sonnet

Praise Him all His angels.
Praise Him all His host.
They laugh at the bottom of the picture, His cherubic angels.
But here also is a ghost.

The Madonna stares not adoringly.
At the infant Son after birth.
But with Him towards us sadly.
They look at His death.

They are not in the clouds.
But under a curtain rail.
They are rooted here among us crowds.
Bound by the anguish of the nail.

They stare not at the congregation.
But at the crucifixion.

Haiku

They stare not at us
But at the crucifixion
As we should also

Sonnet

You stretch out your hand and save me.
Your hand will do all things for me.
I dream I am surrounded by the deep dark sea.
Underwater I know even if I cannot see.

The Serpentine is bathed with light.
Sheltering us from a city of ten million.
I am swimming as the swan comes into sight.
Here is delight, all light cast into vermilion.

You plunge deep into the dark lake.
weightless and utterly free.
You do it for no one’s sake.
The sun glints, envelopes as far as I can see.

But on a winter’s day, I don’t need to be told.
It is oh, so horribly cold.

Haiku

You stretch out your hand
Your hand will do all for me
But first I must swim

Sonnet

I have told you all this.
That your faith may not be shaken.
There is somewhere a truth which I must not miss.
My efforts to find it must not slacken.

How can I equate science with faith.
The Universe is thirteen billion years old.
At first it was dark with scattered hydrogen atoms, like a wraith.
All was utterly dead and cold.

If one atom was the size of a ping pong ball.
The next would half way to the moon.
They were finally pulled together by gravity’s call.
Five hundred million years to create the first star was none too soon.

Was it nuclear fusion that gave the first light.
Or did God say Let There Be Light.

Haiku

Did the first light come
From nuclear fusion
And did God give light