Poem for Palm Sunday

Dear Friends, This concludes Tina’s weekly poem offering. What a gift this poetic ministry has been as we’ve travelled through the COVID wilderness. Many, many thanks to Tina for the manna she has shared with us all. I have no doubt that it will go on nourishing us as we travel onward.

 As the Rooks Are

Alone as the rooks are
In their high, shaking homes in the sky at the mercy of winds,
Alone as the lurking trout or the owl which hoots
Comfortingly. I have a well-crammed mind
And I have deep-down healthy and tough roots.

But in this house where I live
In one big room, there is much solitude,
Solitude which can turn to loneliness if
I let it infect me with its darkening mood.
Away from here I have an abundant life,
Friends, love, acclaim and these are good.

And I have imagination
Which can travel me over mountains and rough seas;
I also have the gift of discrimination.
High in a house which looks over many trees
I collect sunsets and stars which are now a passion.
And I wave my hand to thousands of lives like this,
But will open my window in winter for conversation.

Elizabeth Jennings (1926 – 2001)

Elizabeth Jennings wants us to see the difference between LONELINESS,  which can so easily infect us with “its darkening mood,” and SOLITUDE, which when coupled with IMAGINATION, can open the door for us into a rich new world.

This may seem a  rather sombre poem with which to end a year of poems;  but one reason I offered a weekly poem, first in the porch of our church, and then, at Lissy’s invitation to Contemplative at Home, is because I feel it’s vital to keep our imaginations alive.

Don’t ever think that you haven’t got an imagination.  It is a God given gift which absolutely everyone has. Imagination is like a bridge which we can walk over to revisit remembered times and find something fresh, or have brand new encounters or make surprising discoveries.

As this is Palm Sunday why not imagine that you are the donkey? Hear these words spoken to you:”The Lord needs you.” Let yourself be untied, set free to carry Jesus in such a way that other people won’t notice you, but they can’t help seeing our redeemer and king!

 Tina Lamb