My Response to the Canticle of the Creatures

The world sings your praises

Earth, rich and dark beneath our feet, speaks comfortable words of care
haw and acorn speaks of the richness of your gifts
This day of fading summer, 
Loving warming sister sun, cool breezes speaks of  your constancy in the turning of our days 
Calls of Daw and raven fall from the sky speak of life, fulfilled nests, sharp against the white cloud, speaks of life returning 
Azure sky, gilt edges of the green trees, speaks of the wonder of your vision for our lives.
Speak always to our hearts 
Speak always in praise to the creator Lord

September 17 2025

 Our world lies broken, 
hurt burns in so many hearts.
But no-one talks about healers
They only talk about the breakers, the dividers 
Men and women seek to tear apart people 
To tell lies that make a frightened young man 
into a fearful brooding menace 
The question “who is my neighbour?” 
Is answered by a scream, “it’s not the brown one”
But that’s my great neice, 
The blood in her veins has run 
in this valley for a thousand years
The question was first answered by a brown man called Jesus
He said the neighbour was the person who acted like one.
Then I have many neighbours,
Some honour the Prophet
Others honour the Son
Others honour the human 
Some are white, some are brown, 
I am neighbour to each as they are to me
It’s not one way
It’s community 
It’s communion 
We are a fellowship of humanity, of hope 
We are we
No-one is they, or the other
It’s easy to think like this,
It doesn’t hurt my head to think like this,
It doesn’t make me have to think mad thoughts 
It hurts to hate, it breaks your heart,
confuses your brain 
Take the easy way, walk the way of us 
Not the way of them
Walk with an open hand not a fist 
You can’t catch a helping hand 
With a clenched fist 
An open hand can place a poultice 
on the wounds of the broken ones 
An open hand can brush the tears away 
An open hand can reach out and rescue you
An open hand can share a pasty 
An open hand can release your fear 
We can mend the world

Autumn 2024

 Gold refined from a damp summer begins to show in the leaves

Echoing the gentle October sunshine 

Leaves fall to the still waters of the canal

Slowly drifting downstream 

A young heron sits on an old pipe in the river

Looking out here and again for a fish

The bright shining yew berry lies untouched on the dark earth

Black and yellow a male blackbird’s call a warning

Blue and purple shine of the crows wings

A buzzard dodges ravens over the wood 

The leaves hide the calling of the little birds

A wren darts into the base of a tree

The fluffy long tails dodge in and out of the fading leaves

Shimmering water in the sun are the last dances of the pond skaters

The tears of God

A holy place was built on the high hill
Here the Holy One had His presence
Here was the most sacred place on all the earth
Here the holy man was enraged by the defiled space
Here He taught about the Kingdom of God 
Here the soldiers ran and stained the stone with blood, 
Here the stones were torn down 
Here it was barren, stones over a recovering city
Here in an amazing night another prophet visted
Here it become the holy ground
Here a great dome of gold was built
Here the children of the one God began to squabble 
Here they called each other names and threw stones
He was hung from a tree, stretched in pain 
God wept

His children were scattered 
His children kept fighting 
His children fought and killed each other
His children blamed each other for their own mistakes
His children began to slaughter each other 
He was gassed and burnt- hanging in the air in a soundless scream 
God wept 

His children gathered in the holy place
Here they would find peace together 
Here they would build a new and just society
Here they created a new catastrophe
Here they created new wars 
Here they created new injustices 
Here His children found more ways to hurt each other. 
Here they learnt to make the weapons of hellfire 
Here they learnt how to hate, how to be cruel
Here they learnt to lie  
Here they bound each other into ghettos 
Here they unleashed death, killing children
He looked up into the unsmiling face of the gunman, on the missile aimed at His home
God Wept  

God weeps for his children, 
for our inability to love, 
for the way we only teach hate
for our fear
Good weeps 

Our planet burns.

 Each year there are catastrophic wildfires in the Eastern Mediterranean, in Australia, in the UK over the last few years.

We have seen cyclones and hurricanes stronger than our memories, the sea level is rising, the glaciers are shrinking.  Wildlife is moving north and south as the polar regions warm, some of the wildlife will have nowhere to go, the polar bear may disappear.

The deserts grow and the people of the Sahel lose their lands and their freedom.

 Our government and opposition suddenly, see the votes of a posh London suburb turn on anti-pollution measures because the voters don’t understand or care and instead of speaking truth, politicians trip over each other in trying to seem car friendly, suddenly allowing more fossil fuel (1) exploitation.  Instead of a struggle for truth and justice, a race instead to placate the foolish and the selfish. 

The cry of the high-minded freedom activists (the rich tories) “It interferes with freedom of motorists”.  I ask, “are they free to drive drunk, to race through the streets, to kill”, we all know the answer is no, so nor should they be free to poison the air we breathe

Those who seek to protest are going to to be criminalised because they inconvenience the comfortable, the wildfires interfered with their holiday, heaven help that they are delayed on their commute 

It’s time to call out the lies, the darkness, let us speak truth to each other, let us hold each other in our prayers, lets us become a people again.   We are fragmented communities without connection, without trust in each other, the first action of authorities is to deny instead of speaking truth, to apologise for mistakes.  So let us together make a pact to speak truth, to pray for each other, to smile at each other, to be kind to one another, maybe then people will begin to trust other 

(1) Infosys, owned by the Prime Minister’s father in law signed a billion  dollar deal with  BP  two months before Sunak opened  hundreds  of  new  licenses for gas and Oil extraction from the north sea  ( London economic  )  Infosys  list Shell amongst their  clients  ,  incidentally  the Shell  CEO  joined  Sunak’s new “business  council” two weeks ago 

Rain

The earth exhales, 
we breathe in the rich intoxication 
of its wonder
rain is falling onto parched ground
days of battle, seeking shade 
are ended, the earth opens its old hands 
in joy  
as it drinks its fill.
The warm rain that fills the plants with hope
their buds open,  
the bees swarm to fresh nectar  
on this the longest day,
rain sets the world free
to grow, to bloom 
to set seed 
to hatch
to fledge
to emerge into a new world 

Elegy for the frightened

The time is now 
The place is where you are
The hope is real, it’s for all of us
The love is strong, stronger than we can ever know
The passion is true, clear and meant

Awaken the sleeping joy, hidden no more  
awake my heart to love 
awake my sleeping soul
The sun is high in the sky, the light is strong 
The earth is green, the flowers burst 

Reach out and welcome 
Your family 
Your friends 
Your broken neighbours
The lost and the alone

Don’t be afraid, you are strong
Don’t run away, you know how 
Don’t lock the doors, what are you keeping hidden
Don’t hide from love, you know you can’t
Don’t be beaten by fear, what do you desire?

Awake 
Stop sleeping 
see the light of your eyes
feel the warmth of your love
reach out in waves 
 
Set the bar high
And be proud to try
Don’t cry if you fall
Stand up, be loved  
Never give in 

Let fear fall from you, as a winter cloak 
Let your heart be strong
Raise your head and look the world in the eye 
How can you be afraid now 
He has risen from death