Infusion

Emptiness

Openness

Freedom

Calm

Space above

Space below

Space

Everywhere around me

A grain of sand indeed

Then another

And another

And another

A continuum

To infinity, where

Eternity will be yours

Within the coming hours

Intrusions

Today I am joining

The Norfolk Coast Path

At the Tower Windmill

I am heading for

Scolt Head Island

National Nature Reserve

Then onwards, on foot

To Brancaster Beach

Where, on another day

I might have played

A round of golf

At Royal West Norfolk GC

Peaceful Conceptions

And so I turn

To the Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligen

I listen to their chant - Music for Paradise

I put on my coat

The sunlight

No longer gifts its warmth

That is how the days and nights are

Light, dark, light

Warm, cold, warm

Action, stillness, action

And so I dwell

In Paradisium

Giving thanks to its anonymous scribe

I breathe in

I breathe out

The time asks for my preparation

That is how the time of time is

Challenge

Doubt, who coined the word doubt

Apparently it is from circa 1200

And we have the French to thank

But what about what precedes this doubt

What about that arbiter of faith

What does the Bible say on doubt

This from James 1:5-8

For the one who doubts is like

A wave of the sea that is driven

And tossed by the wind

He is a double-minded man

Unstable in all his ways

Is that who I am

When I question this Lavender Barn retreat

Doubtful of my ability to find more

Or to go further into myself

With some vague idea

That even more freedom lies there

Not To Oversell

I think to pare back the day

To edge towards minimalism

Rather than the exuberance

Of what today has brought me

Did I search the right places

Did I forage in the best fields

Is it more than good fortune

Or a response to sound purpose

I have been fed rather well

In body, mind and spirit

I have tasted sweet and sour

And will do so, again and again