Tomorrow we’re off to Iona - again!

This time it’s to take part in a retreat run by Kenneth Steven, the well known Scottish poet, who, over a few years has become a friend.

To celebrate, I will try and re-post over the next few days my poems written during and after previous Iona trips - and incorporate some of my art from earlier days too.

Tomorrow’s first leg is to simply walk to Waterbeach Station, 400 metres away to start the Waterbeach-Ely-Peterborough-Edinburgh-Glasgow train journey. We will be using the Network Rail assisted passage system in the hope of minimising hassle at the transfer points.

So I start with

Embracing Silence

I am about to escape into silence,

to be released briefly from

this clamorous world

that seeks to suffocate

the bliss of the absence of noise.

Will you, my God,

meet me in the stillness?

Will you be there, waiting,

simply to allow me to be,

alongside you?

Will You use the mantle of silence

to draw me,

to open me

to past, present and future

in the way you alone are able?

Help me yield my whole being.

That, in the deep vault of stillness,

You can gather it to yourself

and weave it seamlessly

into the warp and weft of eternity

in whichever way you desire.

Whilst contemplating a time of silence, you might like to pursue the idea further in the poem Deep Silence