Post by MIRIAM JACOB on Feb 3, 2007 11:53:26 GMT -5
A Prayer In The Cathedral Of The Woods
The Holy waters wash under the trees,
In the Cathedral of the Woods,
Incense of flowers rises in silent prayer
The ground, a carpet spread
For kneeling-
With moss green, and bluebells and wild garlic.
Unseen birds flutter,
In choir-stalls of briars;
Small scuttling choristers,
Preparing to sing for the Lord.
The Living waters splash
Over stones of my life,
Softening the roughness,
Smoothing the hurts.
I walk with silent praying,
Trading the losses of my hastening days
In prayer for younger lives
Still burgeoning fertility.
The words the spirit gives
Flow like the waters,
Suffused with light and life,
These are not my words, but prayed through
A flawed and broken vessel
Unworthy but offered,
Amazed that God can restore and use it.
And my soul rejoices with
The proud young father,
And the tired young mother.
Implores a special blessing on new life,
Known by God before all worlds,
Miraculously created in their love,
According to God’s Holy will.
And I pray for the touch of Jesus love,
On a small and sensitive soul,
Too young to make sense of
Life’s complexities surrounding
Like howling wolves,
And the scowling, fleeting shadows
Stealing her sleep.
I pray for a tiny child damaged
By poisonous fumes of man’s incompetence.
I pray for the childless wife whose every babe
Was cast from the womb, too soon
Too weak to live.
I pray this time God’s mercy
Wraps this new hope securely
Safe in the womb
She learned in sorrow not to trust,
And that it be kept until the time is right
For birth’s bright joy.
Oh Lord, my heart is lifted to the trees
That arch like windows, frame the sky
And scatter light like sequins on the path.
My heart is overflowing like the stream,
And, gathering up the blessings of my life,
Accepting that it’s course has run too fast
I offer up the sadness of those things
I’ll never know again
And offer them upon your altar, Lord,
Implore that you will richly bless
All those for whom I pray this day
In the cathedral of the woods.
PAULINE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Holy waters wash under the trees,
In the Cathedral of the Woods,
Incense of flowers rises in silent prayer
The ground, a carpet spread
For kneeling-
With moss green, and bluebells and wild garlic.
Unseen birds flutter,
In choir-stalls of briars;
Small scuttling choristers,
Preparing to sing for the Lord.
The Living waters splash
Over stones of my life,
Softening the roughness,
Smoothing the hurts.
I walk with silent praying,
Trading the losses of my hastening days
In prayer for younger lives
Still burgeoning fertility.
The words the spirit gives
Flow like the waters,
Suffused with light and life,
These are not my words, but prayed through
A flawed and broken vessel
Unworthy but offered,
Amazed that God can restore and use it.
And my soul rejoices with
The proud young father,
And the tired young mother.
Implores a special blessing on new life,
Known by God before all worlds,
Miraculously created in their love,
According to God’s Holy will.
And I pray for the touch of Jesus love,
On a small and sensitive soul,
Too young to make sense of
Life’s complexities surrounding
Like howling wolves,
And the scowling, fleeting shadows
Stealing her sleep.
I pray for a tiny child damaged
By poisonous fumes of man’s incompetence.
I pray for the childless wife whose every babe
Was cast from the womb, too soon
Too weak to live.
I pray this time God’s mercy
Wraps this new hope securely
Safe in the womb
She learned in sorrow not to trust,
And that it be kept until the time is right
For birth’s bright joy.
Oh Lord, my heart is lifted to the trees
That arch like windows, frame the sky
And scatter light like sequins on the path.
My heart is overflowing like the stream,
And, gathering up the blessings of my life,
Accepting that it’s course has run too fast
I offer up the sadness of those things
I’ll never know again
And offer them upon your altar, Lord,
Implore that you will richly bless
All those for whom I pray this day
In the cathedral of the woods.
PAULINE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED