18 September 2016

Fragments of Time



A young shepherd, leading his sheep,
climbed the mountain to see a bush
burning perpetually bright,
heard in his heart the voice of God:
'Moses, you are chosen to lead
my people to their Promised Land.'

Lightning flashed in the searing heat
and choking dust on the long road
from Jerusalem to Damascus,
where Saul became Paul, and met
with his God in the thin place
between earth and eternity.

Blake in his mind’s eye saw a world
complete in a speck of warm sand 
and Heaven in a cool primrose, 
a microcosm of Creation
neither a dream nor a nonsense,
but a gift from almighty God.

Some seventy odd years ago
on the wings of an unseen bird
a blind man flew up in the sky
to sing with the stars and dance 
again in the streets of heaven,
there to touch the face of his God.

A child on the hillside opened 
a window into Paradise
where the sun shines eternally,
but she was afraid that soon she
must die and never find again
this fragment of time out of time. 

But the fragment is eternal
and bleak despair slowly departs,
as she comes to understand that
in the mystery of his presence 
the soul may find eternal joy
in the glory and love of God.


Amen  So may it be
                            Naomi