Old poems made new

Prayer
Make of me what you will:
A vessel, Lord, of thine to fill;
'Wheat and tares together sown,'
Unto joy or sorrow grown.
Justice and mercy together entwined;
Form me a cord, to strengthen and bind
'like son to sire', my heart to thine.
Desire and will: one type, one mind.



Unblinded
There were years of youth
where folly reigned and selfish pride was king
of wasted days and hollow nights;
Where misery was truth.

There was a minute
when, weathered, I felt captainless and weak
beyond God’s love; when suddenly
I felt myself wrapped in it.

I heard a vow,
transcendent like the shining sunlit night
A harmony there in my ears:
‘Take up the fielding plough.’




Love on Ice
If I told the story of love through my paint
I would brush-stroke you blue;
Wistful, like the world was new, with
Fire in your eyes.

“I swear by the flowers that I haven’t sent
I would take you to me.”
I knew all along it would always be
fire first, then ice.