As a small craft is rocked by the tide . . . Photo: Vegansoldier / flickr CC
Practising the Presence
Practising the Presence by Kenneth Bird
There is a chamber of the mind prepared for me.
When I am ready, willing to surrender.
When I am quiet, I may enter there
To find a place of stillness, a place already occupied
By the light of the welcoming Presence.
The hands of prayer yearn in the Spirit
And I lift up heart, eyes down all the heavens to glean our Saviour;
Bring into the Light the names and faces of loved ones
And be embraced, confidingly and sure.
My breathing stills, gently nudging its mooring
As a small craft is rocked by the tide,
As a child at its mother’s breast,
Drawing nourishment.
The silence suffuses all, peacefully patient,
Waiting in time and out of time
For some long-gone event that is now and today.
Out of a deep joy, we join hands and smile –
And turn now, into the world refreshed.
With acknowledgement to Gerard Manley Hopkins
