Deeper Mystery

Drop away
Let go
Let the fingers of your mind and expectations
relax
and release their hold.
Just turn away.
There is a deeper mystery at the heart of things that is calling you,
Calling you by the name you’ve had since the beginning of time.
A mystery that is nameless as yet,
Wordless.
But tangible and tender
Steady and sure.
Its presence will light your way.
Trust it.

Magpie

In the small almost infinitesimal gap between tasks
in an overcrowded schedule
that had me pinned to my computer,
A magpie caught my eye.

A black and white flash
Dropping down to the lawn outside my office
and proudly strutting on the sunlit lawn
so brilliantly green in the springtime sunshine,
The purple irises waving gently in the breeze,
Light strings of clouds trailing through the sky,
And a warmth and welcome smiling through the air.

Then someone walked past
And the magpie – never one to allow a human too close –
Leapt into the air and was gone.

I turned to my next task,
Breathing slower, eyes softer, shoulders relaxed,
Feeling the texture of the keys under my fingers,
Aware of the light-filled office
and all the accoutrements of my work

Grateful for the doorway to a more spacious world.

At Brodie Castle: September 2002

A sudden scatter of purple autumn crocuses surprises my heart.
I want to be wordless,
To let the wind and all the natural world of this place
move through me un-named;
Leave the birdsong uncaptured,
The colours unclaimed
by my pen.
To let the stately bend and bow of the heavy-branched trees
Find their echo in me.

Let me too bend and bow in the wind
Or dance dappled in the sunlight,
Letting the spirit sing through me sing through me sing through me
Its wild and holy song.

Written during a Writing Workshop outing to Brodie Castle

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Image on top by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash