.

Lightly he carries

Overburdens

Christ

Holds

Is

Ethereal

.

For my grandson, Lochie.

.

Across from here, some streets away,

a grandchild I have never seen.

Last night born. Her mother sleeps.

It’s early afternoon. In a car I read,

my sleeping wife – awaiting…

Grey clouds – stillness: A welcome

to the world. A message – yes, come and

visit. We walk through streets, cross parks,

open the door – and there she is.

Mother and daughter. I take a photo.

A new world from the old. Father,

joyful, compliments her:

A days labour – and now this.

No name, she says, promising.

.

.

A river or the sea – intangible –

living near. The surface and the depth –

all changeable. Like our world – sorrow,

sadness, joy. The ones before us knew.

Your resting place is on the waves, not

the earth. The Avon River, Ōtākaro,

New Brighton Beach, Te Karoro Karoro.

Ōtākaro – a place to play, Te Karoro

Karoro – the meetings of seagulls.

No funeral, just a few words.

Be strong, do not fear, your God will come.

The lame will leap as a deer. The mute will shout.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams

in the desert. A highway – the Way of Holiness.

I am making everything new!

.

For Cathy

.

A view of snowcapped mountains. He often spoke of them. Their property was built on a hill –

through the windows they could be seen. Katsushika Hokusai at the end of his life published

Thirty Six Views of Mt. Fuji – and a printed book – One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji. God has set

eternity in the human heart. Of this, Mt. Fuji was a symbol. The New Zealand Southern Alps,

seen on a winter day, are like a fairy tale. Some folklorists use the term, Märchen or “wonder

tale”. These are tales filled with the marvellous. God makes everything beautiful in its time.

.

For Graeme

.

One day we decided to go on a bush track

overlooking Middle Harbour. It was in December

Holiday time. The day was bright. We walked for a while

until we came to a place with a view.

Clare asked me to close my eyes. Then she kissed me.

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls,

all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

.

Celebrating forty years of marriage.

.

From above the water, clouds reflected,

going, coming, snowy Hindukush,

a girl, Jaghori River, yes, a mirror –

you want to learn secrets – relinquish dignity,

sea becomes, a spring. Ghazni province,

lush green valley, rivers flowing, rain,

a good land – a land with brooks, streams,

and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills,

a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees,

pomegranates, olive oil and honey,

a land where bread will not be scarce

and you will lack nothing. Do not forget

the Lord your God. Lover of God,

forgotten I, sea becomes, a spring.

.

.

Kindness

found here

.

Kingdom

that comes

.

.

Jesus asked, who is the Son of Man?

Peter knew, the Christ,

the Son of the loving God.

This knowledge – Blessed!

Because no man can understand.

Only the Father can reveal it.

Blessed – because another world

has dawned. A group of people

whom death cannot conquer.

Instead they conquer the darkness

and its powers!

.

.

Within

A life

Another

.

The winter

The spring

.

not only sprouted but had budded,

blossomed and produced almonds

.

Adam named his wife Eve, because she

would become the mother of all the living

.

.

I feel for you, so distant and so near.

Another world, yet mine, no borders here.

Here with you, I cannot see, nor hear,

a script is all we share, a friendship clear.

A stream descends, a view of snowcapped hills,

a river, promised in John, a mirror here.

The dawn arrives, so silently, the stars,

the moon, what was no more, another air.

A sadness everywhere – abandoned, homeless.

And yet a river has a home, a wild

territory, the banks, the snowcapped hills,

the destination and the source. Unkind,

what is. A destination and a source,

crystal clear, come drink without remorse.

.