Candle Light

    The candles are all different
    But the light is the same
    Different shapes, sizes, colours
    Some burn still while others dance
    Some have fragrance, others none
    But the light is the same
    Splitting the darkness
    Like those of us who gather to pray,
    Different in so many ways
    Ages, colours, countries
    But the light is the same
    Splitting the darkness
    Just by being here.


    White Blanket

    The sky is falling gently down
    Slowly over a sleeping town
    Painting it Winter white
    In a mirror full of moonlight,
    Delicate designs dropping
    In a descending dance,
    Drifting towards the day
    Purifying the present
    With white powder prayer,
    An array of tiny white dots
    Covering a gray world,
    Like a people in prayer
    Because You are there.


    Prayer Room

    Ardfallen

    I felt like a fountain
    Overflowing with thankfulness,
    Appreciation,
    Just to be there.
    Thoughts bubbling over
    Catching the written prayers of others,
    Prayer tree, prayer board, prayer pictures,
    Making them my own,
    Falling into a deeper pool
    Than I ever knew was there
    Immersed in unspoken care,
    A holy place in a holy week
    Walking without shoes
    On the floorboards of reflected love,
    Of a people bowed in prayer
    Gathered in care
    Just glad to be there.


    Your Chair

    Nicola—December 1994

    Jan did not want to move your chair.
    To rearrange the furniture
    Would be to rearrange your life,
    You filled her day
    Taking an unequal share
    That is no longer there.
    Jan loved to feed you
    To choose what you would wear
    And for so very long
    You were her softest song
    The music of her life,
    The centre of her day,
    The edge of her night,
    Jan did not want to move your chair,
    To move might interrupt the prayer.


    Nicola

    December 2012

    The Autumn trees are bare
    Having cried their leafy tear
    For another year,
    Under a sky filled with the sea.
    The colour has not yet broken into Winter
    And you are gone away again
    Without seeing your first Spring.
    Your beautiful eyes
    Did not focus very well
    Except to focus goodness
    From those prepared to love
    And those who took the time to understand
    You were more than just alive
    You were the deep well
    That echoed the reality of unconditional love
    From somewhere we could not see
    Before you were set free.


    Two Roads

    You are never far from my prayers
    Early morning thoughts
    Late night thoughts
    The dream and the reality
    Halfway to nowhere
    But closer than before
    With you yet without you
    Separated by miles
    Joined by incredible threads
    Strong as steel, soft as silk,
    Reaching in and reaching out
    Following the road ahead of us
    Stretching towards an end
    That we cannot yet see
    But know it is there,
    Always with the question
    Of what might have been
    And what will be yet.


    Yesterday's Fall

    The leaves walked across our path
    Gently dancing, flowing into each other
    Carried on the wind, rooted to the road
    Cartwheeling tip to toe, bowed beautifully low
    Applauding a final curtain,
    Last year's leftovers
    Crackling brown and brown
    Swept up and down
    Like a ballerina clown
    Gracefully colliding in mid-air
    Falling with flair,
    Now the new Spring of Autumn
    Where the old leaves sing
    Yesterday's...