Celebrating National Poetry Month
I went back
to my notebook this week. I mentioned previously that I have a notebook
in which I will jot down ideas to come back to later. Usually it's an idea for a poem, sometimes it's an idea for an essay. I’ve been using
National Poetry Month as an impetus to go back to those notes and work on those
ideas that have been lying dormant on the page. I
clearly remember the Sunday almost a year ago when I came home and wrote “The incense
rises and gathers” at the top of the page. My project this week has been to
fill out the rest of the page, using that one phrase as the launching point,
attempting to capture what I felt on that day.
The
Incense Rises and Gathers
There
comes a time
When
the heart is drawn
To
that sacred space
Where
all thoughts and pretensions
Fall
away like yesterday’s garments.
To
a place made sacred
By
the gathering of pilgrims over time
Who
come with purpose and by habit
Bringing their notions and desires.
Some
come with ideas,
Some
come with agendas,
But
the space is made holy
By
the unadorned longing
Of
many souls
On
their separate journeys.
Their
paths converge
Into
sacred space.
Candles,
bells,
Hymns
and ritual words
Mark
the paths of past souls.
Yet
in that sacred moment
Even
these trappings fall away.
The
incense rises and gathers
Forming
a misty tier –
Suspended
in the moment
Yet
constantly moving and changing.
In
that moment
The
sacred space unfolds.
No
sound
No
thought
No
movement
Only
the incense rising and gathering.
A
brief rest from all endeavor
Welcoming
the soul,
Giving meaning to the music,
Giving purpose to the work that follows.
Giving purpose to the work that follows.
In
a brief moment of quiet
With
all souls gathered
The
sacred space opens,
Potent
as that rest in Handel’s Messiah.
A
silent moment before the Hallelujah.
~ Charles Kinnaird
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