Book of Hours (Complete)

Book

Clare

Decorated

Entwined in

Foliage of the

Golden

Hours

Illumining the

Joy of

Knowing

Life with you a

Manuscript of

Noble words

Ornate

Perfection by His

Quill

Reflected in these

Sunlit thoughts I dedicate

To you

June 30^th 2012

As a Boy

As a

Boy

Catching a

Day and

Each

Feeling that

Graces an

Hour

Joy we

Know

Life’s

Measure

Other

Purpose

Quietly

Recalled

So sweetly

Trains

Us to

View a

World

On the Clouds

I saw Him coming on the clouds

In my parent’s bedroom where

I slept with my wife to be when one day

I awoke with the question of where

I come from and

I knew the answer

In three light filled moments when

I saw

I came from them and they from their parents and from there back

Into eternity where He began and

I knew that He had been here on the earth and that

I had life forever

As a boy I remember

As I stood under

A shower trying to imagine

A time outside time that

After my death would be forever

And before I was born had

Always been

On a summer day I

Once sat in the sun with a Bible

Open to the Gospel

Of John and the words were mysterious to me

Beside a New Zealand

Beach the mother of my wife to

Be looked out to sea and said there was a world

Beyond our sight and later we heard a preacher who as he passed

By us kept saying a reed

Blowing in the wind it

Was

When my friend said

We should find some

Words to set to music and

We settled on the Bible that I

Wrote about the

World’s creation and of Him

Who alone does great

Wonders

Who loves and set us free and

Who is coming on the clouds

I stood at a distance. I was aware of a group of pine trees and winter clouds, and the family group below, as the casket was lowered into the ground. I had followed behind another car on a road beside the Wanganui River. After a couple of kilometres we turned left into the cemetery. The previous night I had arrived well after midnight, the back door left unlocked for me, a passage of lights prearranged. I was given his bed to sleep in. The room had some medical equipment, a few of his personal things and a sense of simplicity. When I had visited another house they lived in years before the same simplicity was there. I had seen a depth in him, God’s hands that would reach into us like a gardener’s, an invisible world of the Spirit, angels and demons. I first met him at Katoomba, where I was soon to be married. My friend introduced us. I remember years later walking with him though a museum in Wanganui. As we came up to a Maori carving he greeted it, acknowledging the spirit there and the Spirit with him.

When my wife’s father died I arrived at night. From the air the Canterbury Plains were white under the moon and I could even see snow on the beaches. The next day I went inside the little chapel where the casket lay. Its curved timber ceiling was like an old ship. At the front of the room was a table with a book containing the names, written with a fountain pen, of those who had died. The funeral was at Christchurch Cathedral, with his daughter’s Alleluia, and a cold wind outside. His faith was intangible, like an underground river that emerges at times, and he expressed it through the music he loved.

As the friends did not understand what had

Begun they

Climbed into a boat and spent the night in

Darkness light dawned in the

East and they heard a voice call them but the

Face was unclear

Guided by his words they let down their nets and the fish

Hopped

In such

Jubilant abundance that one of them could not

Keep from diving into the water it is the

Lord his friend said and that

Moment they knew that the

Numinous presence all around was because of the

One there

One April my children and I climbed Uluru. Rain had fallen and we drunk from rock pools there.

Attuned to

Behold the

Creator’s

Dark

Entry

Fire burned and still he did not

Go outside

He had remained

In the shadows as wind was

Joined by thunder

Knowing that

Love’s

Meaning was

Not found here

Only a

Pure

Quiet sound that

Remains when

Storms pass over and

Timelessness appears

Underneath awareness He

Visits the place we are born

A Pillar of Cloud

A pillar of cloud in the

Blueness

Catches my attention on a morning walk the

Dimensions of its towering presence

Effortlessly

Floating there reminds me of

God’s

Home

I think the way a

Jeweller’s craft

Keeps

Light in a stone is a

Miracle too

Nothing is fully

Open to us only in

Part but our longing can be

Quieted in seeing the simple

Reality of each thing as an anchor lowered into the

Sea

When I visited her at her home she lay in her bed by the window and looked out at the sky. We don’t live long here, she said.

An afternoon

Breeze had

Come up

Dogs bark in the distance

Each breath of wind left a

Fingerprint the light had

Grown paler and a dove could be

Heard and the delicate sounds of

Insects

The Russian icon painters had a different understanding of perspective. Instead of our traditional single point in the distance, their vanishing point was often in front of the painting. One writer suggested that theirs was God’s perspective. Does all we see vanish in the distance, with the foreground attracting our attention, only for the moment? Or is the distant the most real, approaching us here, at our vanishing point of existence?

I sat on his front porch listening. He said he was now seventy-seven. As he talked I reminded him of the seventy-seven generations from Adam to Christ, a picture of the perfect time, when God appeared. Each morning, with a cup of tea and slices of bread by his side, he feeds the lorikeets. He told me he had gone north to see his people, but wasn’t welcomed. He was keenly disappointed and found comfort among the graves of his forbears. As an indigenous man and a Christian he found he was an outsider to both worlds of culture. He sat there with the one who is and was and is to come, whom no culture can measure.

As I lay on my

Bed in the sunshine I watched a large

Cloud

Drift to the north

Eventually

Filling much of the sky it

Grew darker and the sun sent its rays from beneath its

Height

Increasing its reach into my room until my shadow

Joined the others on the wall

A Great Tree

After

Beauty

Came

Death

Except

For

God

As he looked into the desert

Beyond his tent he

Could see in the heat of the

Day

Eternity in

Front of him in a

Group of three men standing there

He ran from

Inside the door to

Join them and

Knelt with his face

Lowered

Master

Now you have come

Only let me

Provide food and

Quench your thirst and he

Ran again and prepared a calf and bread and

Stood by

Them

Under the tree as they ate

As they sat in the shade

Beneath the great tree they

Could see the

Day when

Eternity would spread out

From him and

Grow like the stars in the

Heaven

I will

Join you again in a year and

Keep my promise to you and his wife

Laughed to herself

My lord is

Now

Old it is not

Possible but they

Quieted her I shall

Return as I

Said at this

Time and you will

Under this tree nurse a son

Blue sky remains the

Clouds

Do not move

Each has

Found a place over the

Ground to

Hover

In repose

Joining the stars whose

Keel is the unchanging earth in

Light’s

Motion at

Night the

Outstretched earth beneath them a

Place of

Quiet certainty

Revolving in their own

Slow

Transit

After his death they

Brought his body down from the

Cross and found a place

Deep in the rock to

Enclose it

For three days it

Grew

Heavy

In the ground

Joining the deep sound of the

Knelling earth

Love’s

Motion is

Not that of the

Open night sky

Perfect and

Quiescent the

Rock face is riven

After Beauty

At the west were the hills they call the

Blue mountains that emerge suddenly from the

Coastal plain marking the beginning of the great

Dividing range the

Eastern sun had not yet taken the chill

From the air and the

Grey and brown rooftops of the simple

Houses that had been built

In the sight of the hills seemed

Just then to be

Knit into the

Landscape although there for a

Moment in the sweep of time they

Now had an affinity with the

Original dwelling

Places of this

Quiet land

A pale

Brightness on the roof tiles is the moon’s reflection on a

Cold autumn night

Dots of light in

Empty space

Far above black

Gums

Here

A pane of glass separates me from the

Black

Cold sky

Drawn curtains

Establish a

Familiar world the

Glorious stars are

Hidden

Join them the air

Knife edge

Marvellous

Night

Only you

Point with

Quiet clarity to the

Region that

Sight has renounced

As I leave I turn to see him waving with the harbour

Behind him we had walked in the garden where the water

Crossed underground on sandstone making the grass

Damp underfoot almost seventy years before he had watched from the sea as the

Engagement at Tarakan began and thousands of bombers

Flew overhead on their way to retake the Philippines

Going ashore on an island

His unit set up a radar base and

In his spare time he played a gramophone finding

Joy in Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto which I

Know well being one of the first scores I purchased after

Long afternoons of classical

Music at our home

Natives came up the river

On their way to Tarakan trading all kinds of fruit even

Peanuts in large

Quantities after he had learnt the word and mentioned it to them he

Remembered a photo he has

Stored away of a soldier holding a

Tiny antelope in his hands

A corridor of

Bay and sky at

Castle Circuit in a

Driveway

Edged by

Fresh

Greenery and a

House

I found

Joy there and

Knew

Love’s

Meaning

Now I say farewell

On a bright afternoon

When I was a child my father rented a little cottage in the Blue Mountains. I remember waking early and climbing into bed with my grandmother. The air was fresh and cold and our breath made clouds on the window.

Beginning of all

Called to be

Door to its

End

Above the hills the sun shines through

Black silhouetted trees I

Can barely look in that

Direction as I travel north

Eventually in more open country I can see

Further the passing

Gardens lie in a golden light and the long

Horizon that

Is the seam

Joining coast to distant plains

Keeping the western

Land beyond sight comes into view

Motionless beneath the returning light

Enthroned in the Air

An autumn tree is echoed

By the rock face of a

Craggy outcrop to

Discern

Equivalence in

Forms is a

Gift that

Helps

Impart

Joy this

Knowledge

Late in the day

Makes

Numinous the

Orange rock as it

Partakes in the

Quality of light of the

Returning

Sun

A great

Blackness whose

Cold light marks our

Destination

A dog

Barks

Clarity at

Dawn

Blue

Cloud

Day

Enters

At noon with water

Beneath it a

Currawong’s

Desolate call is

Enthroned in the air

All the clouds came from

Behind the mountains

Crossing

Deserts and

Evenings to

Find us

A tiny group of white clouds appear

By nightfall

Crossing over the hills to

Draw near

Each only

For a short time

A moonless night

Black

Cold

Despairing

A cloudless day

Blue

Clear

Despairing

Another turning of the earth

As a

Boy I

Can remember

Dreams of

Effortless

Flight

After fifty years I

Began to see

Considered things

Differently

Above the water the

Bird’s strong

Call is a

Demarcation of

Eternal things

A currawong’s

Black wings

Can take it to the place of

Dreams

A large harvest moon above the horizon

Brilliant

Covered in the

Day that has

Ended

For the next hours it is

Glorious

Here

Incandescent with

Joy

Are we

Born to

Come to see

At my home

By river and mountain and bay

Clouds

Depart

Each hour

For the sea

Castle Circuit

A castle can

Be seen across the bay

Castle Circuit is named after it

During my childhood we ushered

Each guest onto our balcony and helped them to

Find it amongst the

Gum trees that almost

Hid

It from view

Just now it came into my mind

Kept hidden there

Last time I visited

My home I

Noticed as always the

Open water and the

Perfection that

Quietly

Resides on the hills

Above the

Bay sounds are

Clearer

Deeper

Echoing in the

Full air of

Great spaces

Held reverently

In between hills

Joined like hands the

Kookaburras’

Long chorus

Marks

Nightfall currawongs cry

Overhead

At the end of day the

Boughs of a tree are

Covered in sunlight

Dark shadows already

Embrace the trunk

Flying from its branches

Grey birds seek the

Height of the sky

In the east is the colour of

Jonquils

All over the garden

Bulbs had

Come into flower

Daffodils

Emerged

Freely in the

Grass growing without

Hindrance

In the autumn light I

Joined my grandmother as she

Knelt there

Lovingly tending them

A native garden was planted at the

Back of the property where it was

Cooler and

Damper a little creek

Emerged

From under the retaining wall watering this

Garden of Eden

Here mosses grew on the sandstone and

In summer we looked down at a corner of bay like a

Jewel amongst the lattice of leaves the

Kinship of things

Lovingly tended

Makes a paradise in places

None would have known

All around us was

Bushland in my

Childhood as each

Day

Ended my mother would call us in

From our wanderings when I

Grew older the lit

House was an

Icon of

Joy

At a Slovenian church

Built by immigrants I listened to the

Creed spoken in a language very

Different from mine

Exiled here it

Forms afresh at each

Gathering I sat with a old woman who

Had not entered

Into this world for a lifetime

Joining a

Kinship of

Language

Moved her deeply as

Nameless

Origins were

Pronounced

A half century ago my father

Bought land overlooking a

Curved harbour the

Deeds are

Everlasting

In the Mountains

At a little white church

Built of wood in

Cold of winter

Deep in the mountains

Embraced by

Friends

Gathered to witness

Here

Join you

Knit for a

Lifetime in

Marriage

At last it snowed

By the fuel stove was the only place to be warm

Cones fell from the pine tree

Daffodils bloomed in the garden

Each wrote music in the covered porch

Forgot in the bedroom

Gathered strawberries in the summer

Held our son in the autumn

It snowed and he felt its cold touch

A large window opened the

Back room to the garden

Created by two women in a

Duet of countless springs

Entrusted to us now

A wind

Blew in a pine tree

Calling us at night

A shed in the garden

Beneath the pine was my

Chapel even in

Darkness and cold I

Entered to

Follow the wind

After finding it hard to

Believe she had

Come back to faith

Desiring to be free of

Emptiness and like a bird

Found it in song

A mist settled

Below in the gorge

Clouds that

Descend and become like an

Eternal sea

For days it flooded a

Gown of

High sky

In the midst of things

At Mount Victoria the land

Below stretches into the

Cloudless

Distance

Empires of dust

Far to the west a

Gold sky a

High moon

At springtime the appearance of

Black

Cockatoos symbolized to me a

Dimension of

Existence I had not yet

Found their

Great call from the tops of

High pines

Is unmistakable a longing that

Joins us to the

Kinship of all

Living things even the

Marvellous creatures that

Now cry

Out before His

Presence above

After we knew a

Baby was

Coming I walked

Down a road that

Ended in bushland

From the afternoon sky

Growing shadows

Heightened the

Incisive light on the rocks

Joy was there but the

Knowledge that

Life

Meant more than I realized was

Now what gently

Overflowed in my mind

Across the dividing range was a future somehow

Below us in these

Clear

Days when

Everything was new

Lake Mungo

Ancient sandhills

Brought us there

Created in the

Desert

Eons ago

Formed as a

Great wall on the

Horizon

Intersecting our sense of the

Just with another

Karma

Less human but

Noble

Perhaps more

Quiescent than

Recent Homo

Sapiens

Tells

At the grey walls

Built like a

City long ago

Destroyed the

Ephemeral

Forms on the

Ground

Held

Insights in their

Jagged

Kabbalistic

Lettering

Attempting to understand we stopped

By the sand hills and

Centred ourselves trying to

Discern the

Eternal

From our car radio we played

Great sounds of an orchestra

Hovering over a land

In our minds

A lake of lost water

Broken in the

Clear

Desert

Explaining nothing

Archaeologists found evidence of

Burials here

Cremated bones with a

Deposit of red ochre

Evidence of the

Fire of ceremony

Gatherings where

Humanity saw

Itself in

Joint awe

Kinship and

Love

Bugle

Call

Denotes the

Exit of

Fire

Gone on the

Horizon

A stone circle

Built by my ancestors

Circling

Destiny

Echoing

Far sky a

Great wall

Here

Inspired by no

Joint

Knowledge no

Love no

Meaning

Nothing

Only a

Presence

Approaching a memorial

Built by no one

Calls for a

Decorum to

Enter where

Faith is in the

Ground where

Humans lie

In which past

Joys are laid as a

Keel in the earth’s

Long

Motion into

Night

Hebert

Along a highway

By the sea I found the

Cemetery where a man from who I am

Descended is buried an

Emigrant from

France unaware that his line would

Go out from

Here rooted

In this ground like a stump of

Jesse he settled in

Kiama where

Long waves break a

Man who knew the

Name

Of God he left to his

Posterity a

Questioning heart and a desire to sift

Reality for the

Source of all

Things

Bible he owned

Came into my possession

During my adult years an

Elderly relation on my

Father’s side

Gave it to me after

Having told me his story

Its pages contain

Jottings written when he first

Knew God

Left there as a

Memorial on the

New pages

Of this Bible he

Placed beside a

Quotation from Isaiah the

Realization it was for me

At was for me is how he wrote it

Betraying his French accent the

Chastisement of our peace was upon him Isaiah

Declares we did

Esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted

For he shall bear their iniquities

God inspired words and his name

Hebert was written beside them

A congregation of

Believers was his

Charge as he worked by

Day in a nearby mine

Exceptional or ordinary I couldn’t

Find out although my

Great aunt said

His funeral procession

Included the whole town

As our orbit moves

By an unseen force

Ceaseless we

Draw to the

East to

Face the sun

After his death his wife remarried and gave

Birth to other

Children their

Descendants moved to Sydney and were lost in the

Eternal motion that only the

Future reveals

At the

Bible Society office in Sydney I once saw a

Curious sight

Deposited on a beach after a storm

Engulfed a ship

Far out to sea a

Glass container

Holding a Bible tossed by the waves until it resembled a stone

I could clearly see on its surface a phrase from Isaiah

At a place

By the harbour that

Curves into ancient sandstone one of his

Descendants settled

Entered among the

Final pages of his Bible are a

Group of maxims

He wrote

Jet-black ink now tinged with red

Kepler’s

Law shows that the earth’s orbit

Moves in an ellipse

Not a perfect circle as

Other men had

Presumed so our

Questioning hearts are

Restrained be

Strong in sorrow do not desire what you cannot obtain

Take the day as it is and men as they are but have God on your right

Under that sky God

Visited me a branch on his

Wide tree

Riddles

A window

By my feet

Containing an aspect of

Day

Earth

Facing the sky and sky on the

Ground a

House of

Infinity

Joint

Kin of

Life a

Mark in

Nature

Purpose a

Question awaiting a

Response

As the cloud gradually rose with the mountain

Behind it I watched from my

Car

Driving north on a long sweep of road

Eternity and

Frailty

A face in a mirror

Beholds the world as it is

Cascading upon its

Deceiving

Existence on the

Face of the

Glass

A pen writes a story of life in

Black while the ink

Circling inside is red

Attached to his person

By his side in his

Clothing until his

Death the date and time of his

Experience the year of grace 1654 Monday 23 November

Fire

God of Abraham God of Isaac God of Jacob

He can only be found in the ways taught in the Gospels

I have cut myself off from him

Jesus Christ Jesus Christ the world has not

Known thee but I have know thee

Let me not be cut off from him forever

My God and your God let me

Never be cut off from him everlasting joy in return for

One day’s effort on earth certainty certainty heartfelt joy

Peace sweet and total

Renunciation thy God

Shall be my God half past

Ten in the evening

Until half past midnight the

World forgotten and everything except God

A man wore a coat lined with fire for the rest of his life

A man saw his face in another

A man stole my soul and my clothing

Beyond the hill’s

Crest I lay

Dying my life almost

Ended he

Found me and

Gave me

His

Instead

Beautiful light in the

Clouds

Does not come from an

Ethereal place but was

Forged in a

Great crucible

All the gates of the city are open

Beyond the

Crest of a hill a

Dying man

Encounters his

Friend

Gathers

Him

In his arms

Joins his sorrow and

Keeps his

Life till the

Morning

Now all the gates of the city are

Open

Uluru

Black

Crow cries in the

Deep that

Enfolds it

Flying

Great

Holiness

Immerses its

Journey

A strong wind suddenly

Blew against us as we reached the

Crest of the rock the

Distant scrubland

Existed it seemed to

Focus the

Great monolith

Here

In the centre a

Jacinth stone set in gold silently

Keening for

Life

Men do not

Notice

At the summit the path

Branched out and

Curved over

Dark rock in an

Echo of

Far sky the

Ground there

Had a number of pools

Indenting its surface a

Jade

Kingdom

Left by rain

Among the outcrops we sheltered

Beneath one

Clear of the wind in all

Directions the

Expansive desert

Freely

Grew through the

Horizon

Indicating as a

Jewel watch

Keeps time from its centre a

Land’s inner

Meaning

Named

Only here

Black pool in a

Crevice

Drawing near I

Enter

Face and sky

Go as my

Hand touches water

At the heart of the sunrise our feet should not be

At a meeting

Between myself and a

Composer

Dedicated in the

Endeavour to

Find the

Great

Heart of

Infinity we

Joined hands and he with a

Keen gaze

Looked into

Above the shrubs in the

Back garden a

Clear

Day is changing

Eight cockatoos

Fly in wild

Gyrations

High over an

Inlet of water

Just now

Kookaburras call from a clump of

Large trees on the hill

Meaning rain is

Near

Australia

Born at its

Centre

Drinks

Eternity there

Flowers

As I lay in

Bed I

Considered an image once

Deep in my mind now

Escaped to its surface a

Field of sunflowers we used to

Go to visit the

Home of a family who lived

In the outskirts of Sydney

Judging it the right time to fulfil a dream

Keith their father cleared the

Land of scrub and set in

Motion another side of

Nature in the

Open field he

Planted sunflower seeds

Arising sharply from the river

Beneath it the high

Country was

Dotted with flowers

Each a tiny centre of life

Finding our way over undulating

Ground my father lost

His camera’s lens cover

January with no path to

Keep to a year

Later we walked on the same

Mountainside and my father

Noticed it there

A lily floats on the water

But with roots in the lakebed

Clouds are connected to the earth in

Deep cycles of sun and sea

Even rootless man is

Forever is linked to the

Ground

He walks on and the

Infinity he circles

The Temple

An open flower was to

Carved in the stones of God’s

Dwelling

Entering one

Found that each room had these flowers

Growing in the walls

Here

In the centre past every door

Jamb and passageway a

Knowing came was the whole temple

Like a flower

Made by

No human design

Open to us like bees

Poised on its petals

An insight

Bulb of thought

Cultivated in the

Dark air of the mind

Enclosed as a

Flower until

Gentle light

Hastens

Its bloom

Just as flowers

Keep connection with earth though

Lightly

Moved by the breeze

No insight however

Open to sky is not

Partner to soil

Across the valley thousands of gum trees were in

Bloom I had

Climbed the hill to practice singing I

Didn’t want to be heard so I chose this remote place

Every sound was clear however and I’m sure I could have been heard

From far off as I

Gathered courage and loudly called out I practiced

Here weekly gaining confidence and loosing

Inhibition only

Joined by the breeze and an occasional crow

Keening over the gum trees below us

Long in

Maturing they do

Not flower early on and their heaviest bloom is

Only every few years

Perhaps we do not

Quite know the

Reasons that

Souls

Take time to open but

Underneath me the

Valley was somehow like heaven

Music

As I walked to my piano lesson

By the top of the hill I went through music I had

Composed in my mind

Delighted in having recently heard its

Early rehearsals and now that the notes on a page were

Formed in the air caused something living to

Grow in my mind’s

Hearing as

I walked by the top of the hill

At an old school

Beside the university

Constructed of stone with a

Dark acoustic our

Echoing music took

Form within

Golden leaves fell from an old tree outside

Hosting our joy

Above the piano in the room

Built for her after her husband had died six

Composer’s faces

Decorated the wall

Every Sunday my brother and I had breakfast

Facing them my

Grandmother

Had played the church organ all her life

In her room I would

Join her in finding music on the

Keys

Later when

Music lessons were arranged I began

Not long after to

Open the

Piano to compose

A touch of keys

Built by man a

Cold wind

Darkness coming

Evening kookaburra calls

Facing the water

Great spaces between

Harbour hills the

Incline of sun

Just sitting there alone

Kind comments and a

Longing

Mortality

Noticing something as it

Opened before me

Patterns

Quilting

A Farewell to Music

Carolan

Do we

Ever

Farewell it

Grown older I

Hear it the same

John Carroll

Keep this

Lasting

Memorial of his

Name

Outside us a

Poetry of life is never

Quenched we cannot

Relive others’

Sorrow its

Truth is

Unending

A sheep station near Geraldton had

Been

Chosen for an astronomical

Development an

Enormous radio telescope

Formed by acres of dishes on the

Grassland

Here the

Interior of universe that

Janus faced

Keeps

Looking towards us and the

Mystery of its

Nativity

Overlays its

Patterns on the ground so

Quelled in a

Resonance of

Symphony we receive

Transfiguring life

Shadows

A Wednesday morning found me in a police

Building a day earlier my friend was

Caught stealing text books in the way I had

Described to him to go about it and he

Explained this to the police and through him I was

Given an ultimatum to surrender myself the next day in the

Hours that followed

I found myself taken from there to a

Jail underneath an old courthouse in Sydney and

Kept there until I was ushered into a

Large courtroom where the

Magistrate called my

Name and

Outlined my crime and the

Penalty I

Quietly concurred and was

Released with a fine and the

Sure knowledge

That I

Understood something of the

Veracity of existence

After

Becoming a

Christian I

Detailed the things I had stolen in my

Earlier years and

Found in my bank account the money to

Give back to the shop I had wronged

Having written a letter and sent

It I

Just didn’t feel it was finished having

Kept from the recipient of the

Letter

Name

Only then did I

Purpose without

Question to send the

Recipient the missing initials and

Surname

A cold wind in the

Bay is

Casting the trees into a

Dark

Expression of

Finitude although anchored in the

Ground their branches are

Heaved

In a

Jubilant

Kinesthesis

Life’s

Meanings can be clearer at

Night

Around a harbour pool

Built to withstand the

Constant movement of tides

Deep wooden supports were placed

Every few metres and a shark proof

Fence between them

Going as a boy into the deep where the

Harbour passed through the mesh

Into the pool and the

Jade shallows had turned into a

Keen dark blue was a

Liberating experience once I

Matured

After climbing Uluru we saw in the distance the great

Boulders they

Call the Olgas we crossed the

Desert to

Explore them and

Found the

Gorge between was

Half filled with

Intense shadows

Jet black

Keen edged with

Light on one side

Marking a division in

Nature

A shadow increases the

Beauty of a tree

Clarity is sharpened

Depth is

Enhanced and

Focus refined as the

Great arc of sunlight

Hastens towards night

Around a strange sight in another world a radiant

Body with

Cruel marks of torture

Deep in its flesh an

Extraordinary crowd

Frightened but

Given boldness by what they

Have seen

Increases

Poetry

Blank page

Come to life

Delivering

Experience

Fused with

Grace

Here

Insight

Joins a

Karma of

Lines

Making

Numinous

Our living

Aspects of

Being

Considered

Deeply

Existence

Finds a

Garden to

Host

It in a

Joyous

Keeping

Mary’s

Need to be

Open and

Ponder

ABCD goldfish

Beholding

Creation

Doesn’t

Entail much

A pattern occurs on a

Beach where the sea

Crosses over to

Deposit itself on the sand

A face

Beholding itself in a mirror

Clarity

Descends when

Eternal things

Find our

Gaze

Beautiful

Cluster of lines that

Draws us to

Enter

After years of transforming

Bare wood my father

Consulted a plan and

Decided to built a boat

Engaging with curved shapes was

Far more difficult than he had

Grown used to

Hours were spent

In an underground room

Joining planks avoiding

Knots

Laying the

Mast

Now we sail

On open water

Abraham saw a gold fish

Brought from its home in the sea

Carried across

Deserts

Enclosed in a bowl the three

Faces of

Golden angels he

Hosted

Are we the ones

Beauty has

Caught in a net

A turtle

Begins in the sand the

Calling sea

Draws her

Entire oceans are

Fathomed to again

Go to the place of

Her birth

Inside her organs

Just do not age

Kept mysteriously young in a

Lineage

Marked by

Nobility

Over millions of years

Poetry’s

Qualities

Resonate

Sand birthed seaworthy

Timelessly fresh

Universality seeking its home in a

Vision of ordinary things

Baruch Atah

Blessing is a

Cantillation of

Dreams

Explained in the pages of the Jewish liturgy

Facing the people a priest sings the blessing

Giving their full attention those seated face

Him but are not to look at him

In this the holiness of the act is preserved

Joining these instructions is another expressing

Knowledge of

Life’s

Multiple dimensions

Now every dream that has

Opened infinite

Possibility to us dreamed by us for us about us or for the world is

Quenched no longer but given its full

Reach

That blessings

Unto blessings will abound

After travelling the long stretch of coast from

Brisbane to

Cairns we

Departed for home but because of car trouble

Exited the highway and

Found a small cabin to stay for the weekend at

Gladstone that night the

Heaviness of the rain and the lightening and thunder that shook our room had an

Intensity beyond our experience just as

Jacob once stopped in the midst of his journey and a dream came that

Kindled

Life with such

Meaning that it

Never decreased but

Only grew in

Power

A space probe’s journey to the sun although

Beyond our current

Capabilities would

Doubtless reveal firsthand the

Extent of

Fiery

Glory that is

Hidden from us here it is an

Irony that lacking such a

Journey

Keeps us from

Learning to

Measure grandeur we already see

Awesome God the Most High who

Bestows kindness and

Creates everything who makes the wind blow and brings

Down the rain you are mighty

Eternally the Saviour of all who are

Fallen

After rain the world takes on a new

Beauty the light has a

Clarity like a

Dawn

Extending before us the

Face of the world has

Grown younger rain

Has softened

Its features its

Journey

Kissed with fresh

Life

A further instruction is included in the liturgy of

Blessing

Curses are called to be reversed and

Destructive sickness healed

Examples are mentioned including leprosy cleansed water

Found bitter made sweet and how on the mountain

God turned each

Hatred filled curse Balaam uttered against

Israel into blessing

Justly His

Kingdom

Leaves nothing untouched

As I child I often dreamed I could fly

By moving my arms it was enough to

Climb into the air and soon I would look

Down on house and water I often

Escaped

From trouble in this way

Gathering the shells left by cicadas

Held with tiny claws to trees

In summer was a

Joy as a child once we

Kept one inside that had not yet emerged to see it

Leave its shell and dry its

Moist wings I

Never thought until now that summer days with blue sky

Overhead and the

Pale dawn’s

Quiet deafened by the growing

Roar of cicadas is a

Sign of

The world yet to be

Coastline

A cliff was my vantage point from which I

Beheld the

Crashing waves

Down on the rocks I had

Entered

Formerly in the suburb of

Glebe a

House for those

Interested in Buddhist meditation

Joining them in

Kneeling in a

Lounge room I spoke the

Mantra

Now I returned to my house and by an

Open window

Pursued in my mind the strange

Quality of the waves that

Returned to my mind

Seen after the

Time I

Uttered the mantra

At the place of my

Birth the nearby

Cliffs look

Down on the sea my

Entrance to life was not

Far from this

Great sound

At that time we lived

Beside a

Corner in Newtown

Daily we heard people walk past our window to

Enter the shop across the street

For the last months those who would

Go past would

Hear the piano

Inside as I set out on a

Journey of imagination not

Knowing where to go but

Looking through the

Music for what I

Needed to find

As a

Boy I

Could

Discern an

Extra dimension that

Formed around existence like a

Ghost

Haunting a room

Altered states

Began to loose their interest I

Could no longer face the

Day after

As I left a house one evening

By the time I reached the road I

Could not

Deny the

Equivocation that I

Found in my heart I returned to

Greet my friend

Having decided

It was better to

Justify truth than

Keep my pride at

Last

My sin

Named I

Opened my hand and

Pressed it in his

After years together

By the lounge in our house and with a

Closed

Door to the

Entire world I asked her to marry me

As I set words to music from the

Bible it was like a stone thrown into a well I

Couldn’t hear it

Descend or

Even

Find the

Goal to which it

Hurtled

In the darkness

As the waves

Battered the

Coast in the

Darkness something had

Entered my spirit

Alpha and Omega

Beginning and End

Creator and

Destroyer the

Eye sees the heart

Fears

God Almighty

A City

A city

Built of precious stones

Crafted by

Design soon to be

Expertly

Finished it

Grows

Here

In splendour

Jubilant and

Kaleidoscopic in the

Lands

Multitudes and

Nations

Overflowing into it and

Peoples uniting to make it

Queen

Adam

Born in a garden

Cradled by each

Dawn in the

Economy of

Form that

Grew around

Him gained

Insight

Just as the sun

Kept increasing

Made

New

Over and over in its

Perfect

Quiet

Returns

An ant nest is a marvel as are

Bees’

Communities and

Dark rabbit warrens

Each

Finds a

Gathering suitable for the

Holy business of

Involvement

As man increased he journeyed and

Built a

City in a

Desert

Each turret

Faced the sky

Going down to see the

Holy One

Imagined a world of men

Joined in the

Keen sight of the heaven he had

Left

A singularity is what is

Believed to be the beginning

Concentrated in one

Drop the

Entire

Fantastic

Girth of

Heaven

As he grew old my great grandfather enjoyed

Being in

Crowds he would go

Down to Manly

Esplanade and

Find a park bench to sit on

A starry night seems full of

Brightness

Camping in the

Desert we see it an

Effulgence but

Far between the night is

Growing

A perfect

Balance

Closeness and

Distance

Each atom’s

Form the

Great force that

Holds us all

In orbit

After the city was destroyed they wept

By the river how

Can I forget you Jerusalem

Do I not consider you my highest joy

Even now it has never

Faded each

Greeting is the

Hope next year

In Jerusalem

A city set in gold the

Bridegroom’s ring as he

Claps his hands and

Dances

Child’s Play

A place in our garden

Beside a maple tree in

Close where the leaves lie

Damp on the ground is the

Environment where I

First faced death

Gobble my Guinea pig

Had died while held

In my mother’s arms and we

Joined in a little ceremony

Keeping him in a shoe box

Lowered into a grave and

Made a cross with his

Name

On it

As summer came my

Brother and I

Climbed a tree

Decked with green

Each branch was

Followed by another

Gripped firmly in our

Hands until we could see

Inclining before us the gums and

Jade bay but our focus was

Kept on the

Long trunk of the

Maple where until

Now hidden the cicadas awaited

Our coming

Battlefield

Containing soldiers and cannons on a

Dark

Evergreen

Field with trees

Growing and

Here and there an

Insignia flying

Just then as I walked in I

Knew this was a special day and

Loaded the canon with

Matchsticks

Butterfly hunt took us along

Coastal bush tracks and

Deep into rainforests

Excitement exploded as a

Flashing wing caught his

Gaze and

He began the pursuit

At Christmas each gift lay

Beside the tree we had earlier

Checked them in a room my

Dad hid them

Easily

Found we

Grasped at the packaging

Held it up to the light and

Intuited its contents

As men first walked on the moon

Behold our guinea pig

Called Squeak gave birth to her sons

Another day

Brings happiness it’s

Called for that

Date

At twelve I found my place

By the piano another boy

Called to a temple to question those who

Dower life to

Eternal things and

Find their answers or begin

Giving the account of

His

A day came when my Nanna died I was reading a

Book about Native American

Culture a sad history of betrayal and

Death and their thought that the earth alone

Endures my parents had trouble

Finding me as our phone had been left off the hook

Going over her last morning my mother told me

How she had sung to her some old hymns

Including abide with me

Just now I recall the

Keeled words swift to its close ebbs out life’s

Little day

At late afternoon in perhaps winter I was on a rocky outcrop

Behind our neighbour’s house a

Cold wind came up from the

Deep blue harbour after an

Extensive time of play I

Found myself alone

Gathering these feelings together I attempted to

Hold them close to me

In the prospect of a later time when I would forget what it is to be a child

Few Words

Bleakness

Came

Down

Everything

Frozen

Ground

Hills

Interiors

Journeys

Keen

Love

Must

Notice

Our

Predicament

Quickly

Responding

Summoning

Tearful

Voices of

Warmth

After

Being

Considerate

Does

Each

Find

Growth

Happiness

Inside

Joy

Kept

Living

Moments

Normally

Overlooked

Perceived

After

Beginning

Could

Desire

Expand

Forever

Gathering

Hope

Into

Jars

Kernels of

Light

May

Never

Open

Perhaps

Quietly

Resembling

Stars

Afternoons

Before

Calling

Death

Enters

Finding

Garden

Hedges

Intact

Joyful

Kindred

Living

Modestly

Our

Privacy

Quite

Rudely

Surrendered

Blessing

Can

Descend

Effortlessly

First

Grown

High

Jacarandas

Knotted

Life

Must

Need

Our

Purple

Quota

Raining

Softly

Underlie

Vastness

Days

A day will

Be that will be all days

Blue

Castle whose

Defence is

Ethereal its

Freedom a

Grant from the

Heights

Invaded at sunset

Just

Knights of

Liberation appear in the dawn its

Moat breached by

Night

Outlined in

Purple as its

Queen

Returns

Safe

Till moonrise

Under

Vast

Walls

A Church Window

Blue of

Cobalt

Drawing

Eternity in

From the sky

Glass stained with

High things where

Inside

Joined together in its

Kind

Light we

Meet

Natural product of

Oceans

Perfected taking the

Quality of fire a

Refraction through

Sand

Touched by a

Universal

Vision

As I look at a

Blue

Cloudless

Day that

Exists

For such a short time

Going past

Here

In a river that

Just

Keeps flowing this

Lovely

Moment

Never

Ours to

Possess

Quietly

Remains while I

Sit in

Time

Unable to find it again

As night

Begins

Casting light from before it

Dusk covers the

Embers of

Fire that remain

Grown

Heavy hearted

It has

Joined all who

Keep

Light from us

As it

Begins again it is

Clear that

Days pass

Entirely alone

For

God

Has ordered

It that

Just as we

Kneel in our rooms

Looking for

Meaning the day

Near dawn

Opens its eyes to

Perceive what may

Quiet its aching

Night

As that other hemisphere of

Birdsong slows and then

Ceases and

Daylight completes its retreat from the

East the

Far away silence of

Grandeur begins

High music that we relate

Instinctively to a

Joyful freedom the

Kind a breeze from the south brings or the sound of waves on a

Long beach

Music of

Night has a quality all of its

Own it

Possesses a

Quietness that is

Resonate with the

Surf of

Timeless oceans and

Undying gusts of

Visionary

Wind

As the stars flow past in a

Black river we watch its

Ceaseless

Dreamlike motion

Entranced by their crystalline

Forms that

Glint in the water

Here too

In flood are other streams that

Join it and like a

Kestrel hovering against the wind in a

Long

Moment of soaring seem to wait before entering from deeper

Night and then

Overflow with thousands of

Points of

Quartz light

Rippling on their

Surface

Bright star in the

Cold sky

Denies our

Existence its

Foreign

Gaze

Has the

Incisive

Joy of youth a

Keen glance that should be

Long

Motionless in the grave yet

Now looks on us who

Only

Perceiving a moment in our tiny

Quotient of its existence

Resemble a firefly’s

Sparkle but

To be here

Under its light is a

Vision for

Wonder

As the stars flow past in a

Black river none

Can see its bottom like

Death where

Entire lives

Float on its surface

Glistening with

Hope frozen

In time that has itself

Just set like the sun

At midnight I rise to praise you

Blessed are you

Creator of the universe

Designer of the stars’

Entire journey

From eternity to eternity

Giver of life in the

Heights and

In the earth

At midnight I rise at midnight I rise at midnight

As I read in a poem by

Borges

Chess pieces move through

Daylight and night

Emblemized in the

Features of the board so we

Go out and come in

Hoping

In our

Journey to

Keep being

Led to where

Morning and

Night are

One

Seeing

A sudden view of a rainbow over a river as a

Bridge is

Crossed

Deep in a cave a child

Encountered life at its most basic level his

Food was plain and his instructors took

Great pains to never lift their voices above a whisper

Here he remained for nine years with little to

Interest him but their pregnant stories

Just now he comes outside the

Kogi child sees

Life on the

Mountain as

None have seen it as

One who sees who has never seen a

Queer reflection of Plato

Reality a

Simulacrum of the

Timeless

Unmeasured this

Vastness

We see

An orange in his prison cell

Brought in by the guard after

Countless months of grey he

Does not eat it but is

Entranced by its colour a

Fact

Grown

Heavy

Joy

A Painting in my Room

A row of

Boats

Cast upon the sand

Distant sails to the

East

For me the beach has

Grown to be the beach close to

Home where

I went each summer

Jointly owned I don’t

Know how in

Life’s strange

Melding by

No time

Place but by

Quiet

Reflection and a

Silence

That

Uncovers

A reflection to

Caught sight of

As the

Blue sky never

Ceases

Day by day

Each experience of it is

For us a treasure the sun

Goes down and

Here we are without

It again

Joy we

Knew has

Left us but

Must return in a

New form we

Only

Perceive the same

At dawn a

Birth a

Cry at

Daylight

Across the sky

Banks of

Cloud

Drift

Endlessly

For as we come and

Go this

High

Inscape

Jubilantly

Keeps

Moving

Now here now

Overpassed its

Presence

Quietly

Rests

Settled where no

Time

Upsets its

Vitality

A Leaf from a Book

Poetry

A river meanders

By and

Clouds

Drift

Easily the

Form of words

Grows

Here

In a

Journey that

Keeps

Linking

Meaning from

North to south

On a

Page

Quietly

Restoring the blank

Surface with

Truths that once

Undergirded the tree

Across the tops of the hills

By the sea we walked for two days with

Cliffs near and the

Distant sound of the waves

Encamped

For the night on a bare patch of

Ground near a beach the rain pelted down and we

Hoped

It would stop but

Journeyed again in the rain that

Kept falling having

Left our camp in the

Morning we crossed the cliff tops that

Night had sheltered from

Our view and

Presently arrived at a house by a bay

Quite famished and

Ready to dry our clothes by the fire and

Sit with an old friend and

Then take the small ferry ride back to civilisation

Under the cliffs as we pass the wisps of

Vapour of

Words

Beautiful song

Came into our family in the

Days when our children were young

Enchanted our daughters would

Fly round the room to the sound of the

Gramophone

Holding their heads high

In the breeze that was made in their

Joy the song traced the

Keeping of Torah that begins with

Learning the Hebrew alphabet the simple

Melody curved within itself and expanded and then

Nudged the air as it glided towards its end

Our

People’s tears are contained in the letters and they will

Quicken you with strength and

Resolve the

Song said as the Rabbi

Taught little children to remember their Aleph Bet

Am I alone

By a river the roots of a tree taste the

Cold water and

Dew drips on its leaves

Early light is its

Friend as the birds

Gather each morning to

Host

Its awakening and

Join it to

Keen in the night

Long life is given it draws

Moisture and

Nourishes all that lives near with

Oxygen and blesses the

People on earth the

Question is answered I

Realise

So I

Take a leaf from its book

All roads lead to somewhere

But few lead to here

Calling us home to

Dwell

Evermore in the

Forms of the words that

Grow on a page and

Host all our lives

In their simple care

Fragments

A Melody

A sweet melody

Climbing so high turns to

Dust our

Existence and

Falling we

Groan with

Hearts broken like

Icarus

Rain

As the rain falls

By my window

Cold tears for a

Day veiled in

Exile in a place

Far from rain I

Go to its Maker in

Hope of seeing

It again

The Nameless

Angel

Clear

Desert

Ever seeing

For

He sees

In all

The Sun

A sun is a person

Beyond our kin

Could we follow its

Destiny to

Enter with hope

Fall in despair

Gather at

Homecoming the

Increase of

Joy

A Migrating Bird

As a migrating

Bird follows the

Circumference of the

Day and

Exceeds it

Forgetting all caution

God

Hastens to

Include our life in his

A Mirror

A mirror

Bleeds life

Caring too much it

Dares to

Exceed its

Frame and

Give all it

Has gained

A Rainbow

Bow of

Colour

Describes a

Euclidian curve a

Freedom

Grounded

Here that arcs to

Include the sky

Sand

Beach is full a

Coastline more each

Division of the ocean that

Encompasses the world a

Fecund number

Grown beyond all knowing

He promised such an

Increase and Isaac’s

Joy precursed

A Shard

A fragment

By itself in

Chalky soil a

Dusty

Existence

Foreign to

God but that

He entered

It once

A Melody

A melody’s surrender

Breaks my heart and

Climbing high I leave the

Dark and

Enter into light

A Spring Feast

Prelude

Blazing sword

Circling around

Demarks the place where life

Emerged its

Forbidding flame now

Grants no access

Here Adam mourns the

Infinity of

Joy he

Knew when

Life still had its

Meaning

A Cup

Brimming

Cup to

Drink

Ebullient with

Fervour a

Goodly

Host

Invites us to

Join his table a

Kauri has fallen in the sacred forest a

Living one has lifted up his head

Bread

As only stones were

By his feet as he

Crossed the

Desert

Every word

From the mouth of

God was

His only food

I eat

Just as he

Passover

As a river longs to reach the sea

Beyond and

Carried by its ceaseless flow

Drains itself for all

Eternity so I have longed to eat this

Feast with you

Green trees surround and on the

Hills

Is the scent of spring

Joyful crowds have lined the roads with branches for their

King

A Cry

A cry went out

Behold

Creation is renewed

Death has died and

Every tear shall be no more the

Feast has come the

Garlanded bride

Has walked

Into the room

A City

Bright

City with the

Deepest roots like an

Everlasting tree

Forever

Green

High on an

Isle surrounded by a

Joyful sea

Postlude

Blazing tree

Consumed by no

Day’s

Emerging

Fire its

Greenery

Hosts

Instead the

Jubilant

King who

Loves and

Made it holy and

Now the tree

Outshines in

Power the

Quintessence of the

Rising

Suns

That blaze

Unquenchable and

Vast

Within

Easterly Lights

Aspects of the

Bright star that

Claims the morning sky in

Dewdrops’

Ephemeral

Forms

Glittering on the grass and

Here

I am

Joining them in the same

Keen

Light that

Makes all living things like stars in the hours until

Night

An orchard

Beneath the sky of

Crystal fruit that sparkles as the

Dawn

Extends and

Fades before the noon

Galaxies’

Heirlooms

Inherited for

Just a morning

A tiny light that shares a

Blade of grass

As wet as rain

But

Clearer a

Dot’s

Elusive

Form

As no one can predict for sure the

Birth of a new

Child the disappearance of the

Dew is

Exponentially

Fine

After rain when

Brittle air is

Clinging to the sky and

Daylight swept

Each

Feather of

Grass

Has

In it

Jaguar like a

Keen alertness

Looking from the

Midst of

Nature are flashes of

Origins

Piano Sonata No. 26

Adieux

Beethoven’s patron left the

City as Napoleon

Drew near

Entitled

Farewell its name

Grounds the

Harmony

Interrupted cadences that

Join

Knowledge of

Loss and forward

Motion like rivers we must cross to reach even a

Near bank where the journey will continue or the

Open space within

Precision the beginning

Quotes adieux in German its

Root I commend you to God

So the dew farewells us as it

Takes leave and life continues

Underneath the sun

Aching I

Believe

Could

Draw us

Ever nearer ever

Further from the

Ground ever

Higher

I believe

Across the lawn there were

Bright

Candles

Dotted here and there an

Early riser must have lit them

For a while I watched their patterns

Gently

Hovering

In the breeze

Just then the

Keeper of

Light passed by and

Motioned with his hand and they were

No more

A Book of Hours

Book of hours in a

Circle of

Days

Extending out to the years’

Furlong the amount of

Ground oxen could plough

Here

In our time

Journeys

Keep

Leaning towards darkness as the

Months in

Numb

Order

Proceed yet a

Quiet purpose still

Rests on the hours like a

Swell on the

Tide

As pages turn the

Book’s

Craftsmanship is apparent

Designed with

Élan and

Finesse its

Gossamer

Hours are

Illumined no

Journeyman’s

Knowledge could

Lay exquisite

Meaning as

Nature in time’s

Open

Pages

A call to prayer

By a road

Clouds pass and

Death is not far

A Page from a Book of Hours

Above us the sky is still

Bright the

Constellations in

Dark resonance may

Embroider the seasons but we

Feel only

Goodness as

Humming bees land

In the pollen

An Illuminated Manuscript

A long branch of foliage is

Beneath and above the

Carefully formed letters

Decoration helps

Explain the strange

Foreignness of words that

Govern our lives

Here

In receiving

John of Patmos

Keeps counsel with an eagle as he forms

Letters on the

Manuscript and all around is

Nature

Ornamented in fecund

Patterns

Quadrants measure the celestial

Regions these mysterious

Symbols on

The vellum

Underneath and above have

Views of this

World

Aaron

Began to

Carefully observe the

Departure and

Emergence of light

Fire on the altar a sacrifice

Given our

Here

Intersecting His

Book

Contains

Dust

Each new

Formed hour

Grants a world

As a tree

Beside streams

Cannot wither

Delight in

Each law

From

God’s lips

Honey

Offering

At sunset I

Beheld a flock of white

Cockatoos circling crying

Drenched by the orange light the

Evening sacrifice

For as long as they flew there I watched on the

Ground below and worshipped

Here as time ceased

I realized true worship’s connection with the earth

Just as your linen wrapped body was carried as the

Keeled land took

Long leave in its

Motion towards

Night the

Offering concluded the

Purple

Quickly drained from the sky

Driving North on Pesach

A full moon floats

By the breeze

Catches our faces as we

Drive in the

East is midnight

As infinity

Breaks its waves on the

Coast the

Decision to

Enter as the

Foam

Gathers power is

Heroic

A poem is like a sacrifice

By taking words it

Cleans

Detaches limbs

Extracts inner parts and

Finally pours blood on the

Ground

Hoping

Insight flames

A wind

Blows out to sea from the

Cliffs I hear the sound of the waves as they

Dash against the rocks

Evening is here and I must

Feel rather than see the

Great forces that

Host us

Shabbat

A cycle of a season’s

Birth echoes the

Circling stars

Dates of the

Eternal

Feasts are

Governed by the moon

How wonderful the

Investment of

Joy there is in things

Keeping one day apart

Like no other day

Marks

Nature’s

Origin transcendent in all

An outcrop in

Bushland was a place we

Children

Delighted in

Earlier we had seen it and hoping to

Find it again were hindered by the

Growth on the

Hillside

Its orange sandstone

Jutting nobly from the

Khaki surroundings was

Like a beacon in our

Memories

An altar

Before His eyes

Called

Day

Earth

Freely

Gives

Here

I too am bound

As the sun goes down

Behind the hills the world

Creates anew a

Deepness opens in the

Eastern sky and soon reaches

Far in the west

Great lights appear in

Heaven

Infinite in number like

Jewels in the crown of a

King whose

Life is also without beginning and all

Must see in the end

A Sunrise

A sunrise has significance

Beyond other times the

Crescent moon the stars the

Descending light the

Early afternoon’s repose the

Full

Glory of midday none are

Holier than the

Infancy of day

As Tiberius Caesar reigned when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea the

Brother of Herod Philip was tetrarch of Iturea and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene

Caiaphas and Annas the high priests the word of the Lord came to John in the

Desert

Empires’

Futility

Governing

History

Just a

Kneeling man

As one star among a million that cloud the sky

Broke through and entered the western hills

Conception occurred and in the

Darkness of

Earth

Fullness bloomed until

Growing dawn on eastern

Hills was

Interrupted by

Joyful cries of all those

Keeping watch

Look there on the

Mountain peak the

Newborn sun

An iceberg has more

Beneath than above

Clearly the

Dawn has more latency than

Ever we

First perceived

Arise O Lord may your enemies

Be scattered

Come and save us do not

Delay

Ever shine your

Face upon us

Give ear our God and

Hear open your eyes

In humility we ask not because we are

Just but because you

Keep covenant and

Love you are

Merciful we bear your

Name guide

Our feet into the

Path of peace

Quieten our souls

Restore us O God

Shine forth may

The whole earth be filled with his glory

All the

Birds join in his praise a

Cumulation of songs from time’s

Dawn

Expressed each morning as

First light

Gowns their original beauty with

His

A people living in darkness have seen a great light on those

Beneath the shadow of death a light has dawned the time has

Come the kingdom of heaven is near

As Jesus walked

Beside a lake he

Called Peter and Andrew

Do not spend

Each day with

Fish

Go out from

Here

Into the world

Just as I

Know the sun will rise to

Light the entire earth

My wings will carry you where

None have ever been and

Overjoyed they went and told all

Peoples what they’d seen

A sunrise

Beckons

Consider a

Day when

Everything is

Filled

God

Here

In all

And there was evening and there was morning

Behold eternal day

As Birth

Birth

Circles to

Death

Each

Feels the

Gravity of

Hours

Joy we

Know

Love’s

Measure

Other’s

Purpose

Quietly

Recalled

So sweetly

Transforms

Us to

View a

World a

Xenolith

You are in

Zion at the

Zenith

You reign over

Existence’s

Wistful

Vitality in

Speak of your

Radiance or

Quarry the

Perfection poured

Out in our

Nadir in

Measureless

Loving

Kindness and

Joy would take an

Infinity of

Hours we

Forth

Ebullient your

Desire

Called into your

Brightness I

Afterword

The Book of Hours was a devotional book common in the Middle Ages. It contained psalms, prayers, passages from the Bible and a calendar of church feasts. The term Hours refers to the division of the day and night for times of prayer. This practice goes back to ancient Israel where morning and evening sacrifices were offered to God.

A Book of Hours was often the only book a family would posses. The simplest were decorated with foliage designs. Many were illuminated, depicting life in those times as well as the iconography of Christianity. Historically, they have a place in the history of landscape painting.

Some include prayers for their owners, images depicting them, or their coat of arms. Handwritten annotations and marginal notes were sometimes added, and a record of births and deaths.

They were used to teach children to read. They sometimes had a page with the alphabet.

johncarrollpoems

John Carroll Poems

Book of Hours (Complete)

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