Lent 32

 

Is there a mood for Lent?

We could light a candle

Or set a dancing flame inside

A lamp

We could cross ourselves into

A meditative frame,

A shape that’s somehow both

Relaxing and attentive

(from yoga, we might learn options)

 

We can clean our minds

Dust out the mental bunnies

That distract with

Rapid-fire hiding

Leave the nightmare-horses go

That otherwise fence our thoughts

And predilections

 

A prophet might say

Make straight

The roadway to the Lord

Monarchs might proclaim

A day for silence and in

Contemplation find peace within

Oneself and in the realm

 

But kingly days are done

(we have the prophet’s words)

Except for self-styling

Which days should be numbered, too

Leaving us with our unbloodlined

Selves,

Choice and determination

Know thyself, someone says

(sooner or later in nostalgic king’s English)

It’s a democracy of souls

To find direction

 

We are free

As we are

To seek out something

That we need

In and for each season

That we have

 

C L Couch

 

 

Michelle Kinsey Bruns – Mood LightingUploaded by Fæ, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23015762

Meals are by candelight on Great Gull Island. The candleholders have been around the block a few times.