(Always Beyond Defeat cycle #8)
When demons
Step out of the darkness
And become legion
It is then
We need a powerful word
Above the storms
The crying, the shrieks
Still now sometimes heard.
~
This is the next in a cycle of poems inspired by scenes from the life of Christ depicted in the Lady Chapel at Hereford Cathedral. Previous poems appear under today’s window image…
~
1.
Spirit flies
Into her womb
On a ray
Of light
And angel says
All will be right
Even blessing
Beyond the tomb.
~
2.
Two women greet
Their bodies carry suns
~
Each will meet
God
~
In different forms
Of sacrifice and joy
~
And yet for now
They can rejoice
~
They will bring to birth
A blessed boy.
~
3.
When kings
Or mystics arrive
You know
It must be God
They blamed the star
So far
From your everyday
Motherly concerns
Except that life
Only ever
Partly
Belongs to us
So much is beyond
Mysterious.
~
~
4.
Sometimes the heavens open
And there is love
Not rain
Though water brings life
They say
And the voice
Which names us beloved
Will say these words
Of blessing
Again, and again,
And again.
~
5.
A meeting
At a well
She could tell
A few stories
But didn’t need to
He knew them all
And that real love
Would rise for ever
And fill her life
So well.
~
~
6.
Healing
Always healing
And blessing
Jesus
Teach us to be kind
Heart, body, spirit, mind.
~
7.
“Allow the little children
To come,” he said
Though others
Try to stymie this
Burnt out
Quite exhausted
Yet love kept rising
In his heart
To bless all little ones –
How we all must start.
~
Flowering Poverello 