‘Easter’ (a poem by George Herbert, ‘The Temple’, 1633)
Alleluia, Christus resurrexit! Vere resurrexit! RISE, heart, thy lord is risen. Sing his praise Without delays, Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise With him may’st rise: That, as his death...
View Article‘A Better Resurrection’, a poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
I have no wit, no words, no tears; My heart within me like a stone Is numb’d too much for hopes or fears; Look right, look left, I dwell alone; I lift mine eyes, but dimm’d with grief No everlasting...
View ArticleAll You Need is Hate
This morning I thought about this poem by Steve Turner; it appears in his collection ‘Up to Date‘, published in 1983 and now long out of print. Somehow, it seems sadly relevant. All You Need is Hate...
View ArticleMystery to Me
This is a new song lyric I wrote tonight. No tune yet, but it’ll come. Mystery to me © 2017 by Tim Chesterton It’s a mystery to me When people don’t have eyes to see that wrong’s not right and never...
View Article‘Imagine’ Revisited
Just a little ditty I wrote a while back. I think you all know the tune. ‘Imagine’ Revisited ©2013 Tim Chesterton Imagine there’s no heaven – it’s easy if you try Love always ends in graveyards – you...
View ArticleHappy birthday, John Donne (1572-1631)
A Hymn to God the Father Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun, Which was my sin, though it were done before? Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run, And do run still,...
View Article‘The Skylark’, by John Clare
The rolls and harrows lie at rest beside The battered road; and spreading far and wide Above the russet clods, the corn is seen Sprouting its spiry points of tender green, Where squats the hare, to...
View Article‘Good Friday’, by Christina Rossetti
Am I a stone and not a sheep, That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross, To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss And yet not weep? Not so those women loved Who with exceeding grief lamented...
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All You Need is Hate
In the 1980s I was introduced to the poetry of Steve Turner, in a thin Hodder paperback called ‘Up to Date’. I was captivated by his sparse, uncompromising lines, and I thought then (as I still do now)...
View Article‘We follow the dead to their graves…’
I know I’ve posted this before, but this is one of my favourite poems by one of my favourite poets, Wendell Berry. 1. We follow the dead to their graves, and our long love follows on beyond, crying...
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