Pandemic slow-down, life in rebound,
Slow-motion days
While minds play;
Racing, restless, shamelessly demanding
Answers to prayer that do not come.
Patience.
Two syllablesof irksomeness
Revving the brain-squall of fractiousness,
The caffeine-fuelled maddness of life.
Patience.
Annoyingly, it cannot be said fast,
In any accent, it’s pregnant with pause,
A purposeful word.
Patience.
Enforced quietude, life in solitude,
Time for prayer, not despair;
Ardently, purposefully, in undemanding faith,
In Spirit-led strength of hope,
Pray – and peace will come.
Patience.
(C) wordz2go Jan 2021
New Year’s Eve 2020
The sorrows of this year
Are due some tears,
We’ve loved and lost,
Suffered unbearable pain
Watching a virus
Seemingly unconstrained.
So much untimely death
Brought into our homes:
The victims, the heros,
Politicians blamed,
Conspiracies abound
Facebook experts declaim.
A year to forget –
2020 – be gone!
We need to feed our hope,
To be consoled,
To plan for a future
Regain temporal control;
To be normal again
Without the ‘new’,
For simple things,
A hug and a kiss,
Human touch –
The things we miss.
Here’s to next year,
It has to be better,
So throw off the old
Take hold of the new,
Look forward again
And May God be with you.
(c) wordz2Go 31 Dec 2020
NoZoom@TheInn
May you and yours be safe and close
This Christmas Day,
Tell how much you value them
In your life today.
This year is different from every
Christmas past,
People missing, traditions broken,
Plans hastily redraft.
Yet hope abounds in darkest times,
You’ll see it if you try –
It’s family quiz on Zoom or Skype,
Or dropping shopping supplies,
Bin men dressed as Santa
With Rudolph running by,
Insta-cards, on-line advent,
Homeless warm and dry.
Focus on the positives,
The things you still can do:
Bring out the Monopoly,
Play a game or two!
Celebrate the weird presents,
Drink the Sherry dry,
Leave no cheese to be unturned,
The Ritz are nearby.
Grit your teeth and smile awhile,
Kids creating noise,
Prancing, dancing round the room,
Squealing at new toys,
Sugar-highs from chocolate mice,
Liquorice lace and candy joys,
But kids are kids at Christmas time
So in all the noise, rejoice!
Pop outside to take a break,
The night is clear and bright,
The Bethlehem Star is shining
To show God’s love tonight,
This same star once hung
Above an inn with no Zoom
God came down to be with man
‘Though none could find him room;
The only people present
Were the poor as God live-streamed,
No iPhone to record the birth
As angel armies beamed,
No auto-text en-masse to man
No Instagram no Story dreamed,
Just FaceTime original,
God, with man, revealed.
(c) wordz2Go 24 Dec 2020
John 1 : 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Raining Blessings
We bring you greetings
From the land of the web-footed
Umbrella-headed people,
We who have evolved to breathe
Rain instead of air;
Whose daily prayer
Is ‘Give us this day
Our daily shower’,
We carefully, pick the hour
To walk bare-headed,
Crouched over through
Wind and sideways rain
Searching for the first skein,
The promise of a rainbow
Spinning across the skies,
Lifting our head and our eyes.
This rain is our benediction,
Poured out abundantly
From an ever-gracious God,
Blessing us continuously
And conspicuously;
But what joy there is
When the mizzle-misted hills
Emerge through the sunshine –
Umbrellas closing,
Water-proofs away,
Impatiently on standby,
Awaiting another rainy day,
Another chance for God to say,
This is my country
And I will show my love
Raining blessings from above.
“When life gives you lemons …”
(c) wordz2Go 18 Oct 2020
Cartref
After 34 years
Of voluntary exile
We’re finally moving home,
Cupboards are emptied,
And rooms are bare
Just a small sofa and chair,
A couple of plates,
A TV and a bed,
Somewhere to lay my head,
We’ve picked and packed
And bubble wrapped,
Emptied garage and attic
Without dramatics
And now we’re ready to go!
With heavy heart
We’re leaving behind
Bethany and Gethin too,
But because you’re mine
I know you’ll be fine,
God’s plans for you
Are running true
You’re where you’re meant to be,
We love you both
But we’ve planned for this,
You’ve known it had to come,
The hiraeth’s strong
To be where we belong,
We’re moving out this week!
We’ll miss you both
But you know where we are
And with magic technology
It’s really not far,
We’re off to the mountains,
Can’t wait for the snow
But we’ve months in the valleys
‘Till the new house is a go,
We can’t wait to show you
The barn on the hill
We can’t wait for your visit
And to show you your room
We know you will love it
As much as we do.
We’ll see you in Wales
But for now it’s adieu
We’re heading off to pastures new,
The land of dragons
And Arabs in the road,
Sideways rain
Drumming on the roof
Necessitates a waterproof
To walk the dog or
Pop to the shop
Seemingly nonstop –
But we’ve got wellies
So we don’t care
And we’re hoping to see you there!
(c) wordz2Go 18 Oct 2020
Poppy Biers
When the flashy red
Of the poppy head
Has dropped and
Seed pods form,
When the last march
Has long passed
And poppies
No longer worn,
We’ll still recall
The bugle call
That drew boys
Over the top,
We’ll still recall
Them, one and all
Praying for war
To stop.
The graveyard womb
Makes poppies bloom
To die as men
Once died,
But the poppy seeds
Atoning deeds
Brings colour and life
And pride –
When the bugle call
That ended it all,
Repeats throughout
The years,
We’ll stop and stand,
Poppies on hand
To remember
Those poppies were biers.
(c) wordz2Go 18 Oct 2020
In grateful thanks to my two grandfathers who both fought – and survived.
Cappuccino Angel
I saw a woman
Wearing a cardigan today
Identical to one of yours,
I looked at her face
And hung yours there;
Your face,
Your brown arms,
Your gold watch and bracelet,
Even your cross
Around her neck
Despite the fact that
I was wearing it.
I yearned to touch her,
Give her a hug,
But to touch a stranger
In these Covid days
Is strictly verboten.
So I left her alone –
But to see you so clearly,
So close,
It did make me smile
For a while.
“Treat every stranger as if they were an angel”
(c) wordz2Go 18 Oct 2020
Ninety Two
Molten gold:
No matter how old
You pour yourself,
Willingly,
Into all the different shapes
Of our lives,
Spreading love and support
Thickly and generously
Across our needs,
Moulding yourself
Selflessly to us.
Your nineties are
Strong and vital,
Ageing gracefully,
Unashamedly.
Love you millions Dad,
Happy Birthday!
(c) wordz2Go 19 August 2020
Restitution
Lord, Lord, we cry to you
From the depths of social isolation,
Our souls seek consolation, restitution,
As the enemy rampages,
Morphing certainty into uncertainty,
Forging fear and instability;
While the world recoils,
Struggles to form a cohesive
Response:
Masks displace hugs,
Kisses cast to the past,
Families separate
As the virus replicates, mutates,
Driving us to dark places
Of worry and anxiety.
But have we forgotten You?
Who can be against us
When You are for us?
You control the very storm
Threatening to engulf,
You are the cloudy pillar
Leading us forward,
The lamp beneath our feet
In days of darkness,
And the darkness will be overcome!
Strengthen us Lord
With the faith of Trust,
An Unmeasured and bounteous faith
Formed from the never ending love
Pouring out over your people
From age to age,
No different now than ever
And in which we must trust.
You saved us once and for ever,
For ever and ever,
even today –
So, when fear says
Run scared, run for the hills
We will trust, because we must,
Because no one and nothing
can remove love freely received,
The virus is deceived,
not us.
(c) wordz2Go Oct 2020
Rainbow 🌈 Faith
Pandemic-days,
Dark times,
Battling for survival,
Awaiting revival
In time of drought;
Scorching winds
Scourge the earth –
Fear and panic
The new narcotic,
And yet,
And yet –
Hope persists,
Rainbow faith
Shining manifest
Into brokenness,
A kaleidoscope
Of hopefulness,
Myriad colours
Reflecting absolute love,
Inextinguishable
In the darkness
Because our God walks with us,
Always.
(c) wordz2Go 18 April 2020
Wordz2Go 