Second coming
There are new signs and wonders:It is a sign, indeed, that complicities without numberMight be contained within a single nod,And a wonder that so much slynessMight brood within the single dimming of a wink;For now, in the civilian alchemies of this second coming,We are called to choose the dark yeastThat does not so much rise, as ooze and infiltrate;And if we must sow,We must sow in whispers, now,In malignant fields;And if we must reap,Then we must reap in the certainties of scorn.And when we are called to choose,We must choose our neighbours coldly,Nurse our denials close,And keep assiduous listsOf those we most prosperously revile.For now, the chilling shadow of the salamanderHas crossed the threshold of our hearts:We live in a time,When Jesus, prophet, saviour,Refuses, we are assured, to say yes to everybody.
Grant Fraser
Beyond Golgotha
i.
A path of varicose rootsrising from sodden groundshowed the way to a rockplaced upon a rock a facewith random nails stucklike a half-crown of thornsin the roughly groomed clayThe eyes stared out from bulbous sacsthe mouth downturnedlike any mouth on any faceon the way to Golgotha
ii.
And thereI saw a solitary bee,with stripes on his back,limping like a light plane landingfumbling to retreat to the antholewhere the dirt was pushed awayNo spices no scentsHe was gone Perhaps for goodI waited
iii
untilhe stumbled from the darkstoppeddrunken in the lightHe regained himself;rose up as it were.And I was frightenedthat he might choose meas a resting place.
Marlene Marburg
Praise
Sometimes each thing has its given moment — water limber from my kitchen tap — almost the whole sumptuous sense of it.
Now that praise is a remedy so praised, I'm drawn not to a simple hymn but Hopkins and gash gold-vermillion, and the words
he chose in fear his faith had fled on dark wings; words held dear, energised by nothing more than planetary spin.
Steve Armstrong
Renewal
Navy blue skyHeavy with promise of rainStill and velvety on this autumn eveningBewitches meSoft pillows welcome me early to bedA good book to end this blessed Easter DayAnd then, as if in final benedictionThe smell, the sound, of promise fulfilledThe earth and I grateful for the blessing
Margaret Quigley
Grant Fraser is a lawyer, poet and filmmaker.
Marlene Marburg PhD is a spiritual director and formator at Sentir Graduate College of Spiritual Formation (University of Divinity).
Steve Armstrong is a psychotherapist. He writes poetry based on his relationship to urban environments and the still wild where he finds it.
Margaret Quigley