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Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Listen & Observe (Into Great Silence)

From the mist to the prayer
Rising and falling
Knock on wood
Patience comes calling

Bells and bats
The shrieks of morning
Grey on blue
Snow flakes falling

Angled roof slates
Square stone wall
Heaven’s proof awaits
Again the bells do toll

A longer view
Light stripes on the mountain top
Seen through darkness
The mood maker’s opening shot

In hooded cloaks
Through massive doors
To pray with hope
Pray to level the scores

One last straggler
Limps so slow
The vespers men bet
He won’t dare show

A quiet room
With desk and chair
Words to learn
A solitary slayer

The wooden stove
Not yet lit
Warmth from without
Does not easily sit

Heavy & dull cloth
On a cutting room table
Grapes of Wrath
Bells ring, as of babel

The pace is slow, one has to say
Three quarter dark views
Leave the imagination to play
A cough, a clog, a candle zoomed

Nocturno sung; monks vent exalted
A flickering flame
Time lapse stars roam unclaimed
Throats cleared, chants not faltered

The blind one stumbles
Then finds a chair
With stick and gown, humble
His body of cloth layered in layers

They choose their smocks
As most men do
With a pull in of the waist
Arms stretched through

Half open doors, steps to the preacher
Light and shadow
Novices to the teacher
Probation with the venerable father

Before you take the eternalisation
You have the freedom to leave
In blackened robes, far from civilisation
They choose to stay, no time to grieve

Your life is their life
Their life is your life, beware
Blame all you want
As they shave their hair

Young man, craving
Younger than my son
Shakes off the shavings
A bolder time begun

A gentle song, softer notes
Fall though a communal prayer
Sunlight floats on falling dust motes
Youths expectant, not scared to share

Ventures; stars fall
Over light crested peaks
Lord you have seduced me
& I was seduced

Quiet, stillness, silence jinxed
An identity parade of faces
A single eye that winks
I am seduced


from 
Looking Up The Hill :: Love To Make You Stand Back

Christopher's Poetry collections can be found on iTunes and on kindle by clicking the highlighted links