I was reading about rationalism,
the kind of thing we do up north
in early winter, where the sun
leaves work for the day at 4:15

Maybe the world is intelligible
to the rational mind;
and maybe we light the lamps at dusk
for nothing...

Then I heard the wings overhead.

The cats and I chased the bat
in circles - living room, kitchen,
pantry, kitchen, living room...
At every turn it evaded us

like the identity of the third person
in the Trinity: the one
who spoke through the prophets,
the one who astounded Mary
by suddenly coming near.

Well, some things just have to be done...

 Happy Gaudete Sunday all

Blackbird in Fulham

by P J Cavanagh

A John the Baptist bird which comes before
The light, chooses an aerial
Toothed like a garden rake, puts a prong at each shoulder,
Opens its beak and becomes a thurifer
Blessing dark above dank holes between the houses,
Sleek patios or rag-and-weed-choked messes.

Too aboriginal to notice these,
Its concentration is on resonance
Which excavates in sleepers memories
Long overgrown or expensively paved-over,
Of innocence unmawkish, love robust.
Its sole belief, that light will come at last.
The point is proved and, casual, it flies elsewhere
To sing more distantly, as though its tune
Is left behind imprinted on the air,
Still legible, though this the second carbon.
And puzzled wakers lie and listen hard
To something moving in their minds' backyard.

Darkness

after Rilke

by Alan Payne

Darkness,

your grand circle engulfs

all the small bright circles

of the world.  None

can withstand you:

meteors trailing their light

through space, this slim

candle on a shelf.

All selves

belong to you, began

in you.  You place

a hand on my shoulder, shift

hand to wrist, fell my pulse.

Your gentleness moves

me to belief: in

darkness.

Queen of all she surveys - Holly testing out the smart new dining chairs tucked under the lovely new dining table, and giving her seal of approval.

Yesterday I joined some friends at a charity carols by candlelight event in Edinburgh - and in the lucky-dip managed to win no less than a television!  Just need to arrange to collect it from the charity's offices in town as I'd left before they contacted me with the news, but, wow!

Feeling very blessed.