Test of truth

A topical poem

Lately we’ve seen on the box, in the news
A few individuals get knocks – can’t excuse
Some behaviour that’s proved underhand and uncouth
That’s played fast and loose – sometimes planned – with the truth
It’s not exactly news to say short term gain
Produces, like night follows day, long term pain
Things that get covered up for weeks, months or years
Have an unfortunate habit of ending in tears;
So what is the antidote to this kind of thing
How can we help life not stall but, well, sing?
A tip to ensure we don’t go ‘on the blink’
Is to care a bit less about what people think
In the right way, I mean – it avoids so much stress
When you don’t get fixated on chasing ‘success’
The best way to chart a steady course, not go bust
Is surely our God up in heaven to trust
Counting on the Father to make our paths straight
Is a winning approach you can’t too highly rate
Choosing the route that’s not easy but right
Leads to broad happy places of life, peace and light

Image by PDPics from Pixabay

Pentecost poem

In our rational world any talk now of God
Is for heated debate a lightning rod
We think we’re sophisticated, clever and wise
So any God-talk – we easily despise
Some of us embark on a spiritual search
Meditation, chakra (not often church);
What if we altered our approach to this art
A little less intellect, a little more heart…
What if my defences I could surrender
A chance I might find a God wild and tender?
What if I admit, on my own life is sour
Might I then savour some spiritual power?
Being too cerebral, life can be pale
Let’s open up, get some wind in these sails
I’m tired of pursuing a shadowy course
God let me feel – your hurricane force
Don’t let me shrink back, retreat or retire
I want now to taste some spiritual fire
I let go of my stuff God, I’m up for the ride
I wanna be shaken and stirred, purified
Not just tread water the rest of my days
Hold me and mould me God, set me ablaze

Image by Hier und jetzt endet leider meine Reise auf Pixabay aber from Pixabay

Audio:

Path of peace

How do we reckon with histories of pain
That simmer and burn, and flare up again,
Smouldering anger, how do we quell
And not let it grow or continue to dwell,
How through intractable grief find a way
To build up a justice that lasts and will stay,
How can we unearth the best, not the worst
Till someone lets go of their pain, and moves first?

Image by Gidon Pico from Pixabay

Prompted by the current middle east conflict.

Feeling for India

I’m struggling a little, I’ll say it, be blunt
About what’s happening in India, where they’re bearing the brunt
The weight of the suffering, we see it, we know
That they’re stuck, they can’t breathe, they’ve got nowhere to go
‘I can’t breathe’, now if you recall that’s a phrase
That we heard quite a lot, dating back to last May
George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, it was only last year
That nine minute video got us hooked – now we’re here
And I know that it’s different, but there’s something the same
It’s not about feeling bad, finding someone to blame
It’s about trying to connect with the pain of another
Imagining it, feeling it, for my sister, my brother
Cos we’re one global family, and if we’ve got heart and soul
Then if part of the body hurts, we feel it, the whole
So let’s not wait for one icon, one publicised case
When we see the pain etched on a suffering face
And let’s not forget we have Asian friends here
Let’s feel for their anguish, connect to their fear
You know, when it comes to relating to pain
That our God’s got it down – sends the sunshine and rain
On the good and the bad, and when a small sparrow falls
He notices and cares, and he doesn’t have walls
Between people or nations, more ‘worthy’ or less
In his eyes we’ve all got great worth, and I confess
That the change that I most want to notice and see
Is for us to follow his example – that’s you and that’s me

Image from REUTERS/Adnan Abidi