MAY... the month of slow rambles around the garden with a cat; puss
being necessary to reduce my pace so that I notice the small things usually
overlooked. Reaching the apple trees no longer in blossom, I discover the
calyx: a five-pointed star, beneath which the seed bearing fruit, as yet
no bigger than a pea, is beginning to show.
I think of the many circles and cycles there are in our lives today. I think
of people long past for whom the circle was the perfect shape. I think of
the Asian mandala - a circular figure as the religious symbol of the universe;
of Celtic caim - and encircling prayer made whilst a circle was traced with
the finger:
Circle me O God
Keep hope within
Despair without.
Circle me O God
Keep peace within
Turmoil out.
Circle me O God
Keep calm within
Storms without.
Circle me O God
Keep strength within
Keep weakness out.
O LORD, the unfolding of your Word gives light;
Petals opening in the dark.
A flower of light, seen clearly in the dusk of day.
Ephemeral as a fire-fly, or steady as a distant star.
A light of promise, enlightening our dark minds
With a seed of hope,
A seed of contemplation.
Deep in the earth is the mortal combat.
The seed-case splits: Life has triumphed.
So fragile the delicate tendrils,
Yet stronger than death.
Potent with life, powerful to move
The dull inanimate.
Thrusting into your Life, deeply rooted
In the womb-earth.
The first birth. |