FEET

Swaddling bands, lovingly wrapped,

Protected tiny feet

From the cold and from jagged straw.

Damp from Jordan's water

His feet carried Him to the wilderness,

To the brash abrasion of sand.

He who could move in an instant

From Judea to Galilee

Traversed Samaria on foot.

So the women, loving their Master,

Bathed His feet in these ointments  

Myrrh, nard and tears.

Why then did men drive nails

Into these holy feet?

Living again He could say,

As evidence of His life,

"Behold My hands and My feet".

He sits at God's right hand

Till His enemies shall be made

The footstool of His feet.

FREE

When I was bound by sin

And far, O Lord, from Thee

In love, alone, Thou didst atone

Thy blood has set me free.

Abiding in Thy word

Which comes in grace to me

And following on where Thou hast gone  

The truth has set me free.

 

Within the Father's house

Where I through Christ may be

I am at home and gladly roam

The Son has set me free.

THE HOUSE OF THE HIGH PRIEST

Pungent curl of smoke,

His face glowing in the firelight,

A draught chilling his back  

"I do not know the Man".

Jostle of rough elbows,

Eldritch firelight on scarred faces,

Furrowed, interrogative brows  

"I do not know the Man".

Shriek of a frightened fowl,

Eerie twilight shining,

A sharp, accusatory maid  

"I do not know the Man".

A second cock crow.

A look. A sword to his heart. Again

Peter, stumbling from the murderous house,

Began to know the Man.

VESSEL

He left this to no prentice hand  

The Master toiled, day upon day

Himself. Ages ago he planned

This vessel. See the splendid way

The light reflects   that's since the ore

Was purified by Him. He used

Purification none before

Could have applied to it. He mused

On how the metal worked and beat,

Harshly, we thought, the basic form;

We wondered, seeing it complete,

Already structured to conform

To what was in his mind. But next

He tapped a gentler quicker rate

Till no one else saw how his text

Varied from it. But, consummate

In craftsmanship, unsatisfied,

He saw an imperfection here

Or there and deftly reapplied

His hammer. He would persevere

For hours. Till after beating one

Last perfect stroke he gave a deep

Contented sigh   "The work is done:

This is a vessel I will keep."

ANABASIS

We straggle forward.
The line
Elongated as the weak
Slow,
A wounded snake stretched from the fore horizon, to the rear horizon,
I am too fagged to look at.

What is that sound?
We have heard pursuers,
The gritted wind,
Vultures.

What is the sound?
Like an echo, but
Unlike an echo, since
It grows louder.

To our harsh desert
Where a thousand Greeks
Strew their bald corpses
This sound sings down the line.

Hearken, brothers, hearken:
Pass back the strong men's shout,
"The Sea, the Sea". 

Here's the story on another blog; but I think we can see a Christian 'parable' in it!

PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER

Since her frail coracle is set
Upon a swelling watercourse
When tumbling waves and tides have met
Guide her against their evil force!

Give strength and aid to us who try,
From our own fragile crafts, to keep
Her course from rugged rocks which lie
Threatening to hurl her in the deep.

And bring her safely home at last,
Secure eternally from harm,
Where no seas swell and no winds blast
Within the haven of Thine arm.

NATURE NOTES

Looking over the Sound of Sleat
to the Isle of Skye

NATURE NOTES

White - puffs of cloud,

Sails, a gull's back, the bow-wave

Of the fishing-boat.

Blueness - the calm sky,

The distant Cuillins; rippling

Of the Sound of Sleat.

Greenness - the blown grass,

Shade on shade of leaves, mattness

Of the far mountains.

Yellow buttercups,

Purple foxgloves and clover -

Is that red fuchsia?

The Isle of Eigg
with the Sgurr to the left.

The Isle of Muck
from the Sound of Sleat

HYMN

Father, Thy glory radiating out
Around the vast creation Thou hast planned
Bows us as in its splendid rays we stand;
Removes from us unfaithfulness and doubt.
                             
Only through Jesus can we enter in:
But for His work we would be lost in night.
Now through His work we too are His delight;
The sinless One removed, for Thee, our sin.

In Thine own nature Thou art ever love;
Thou art revealed in Christ, Thy well‑loved Son.
Only as in the worth of that blest One
May we be brought before Thyself above.

To Thee belongs the worship of our heart
For the magnificence of all Thou dost;
Now, to Thy glory, sons, a loving host
Respond for all Thy works and all Thou art.