Presence 6: Arts That Inspire Reflection & PrayerSample

In Time

There is a time for leaving

Home

Family

All that is known

Uncertainty a better option

Than the disabling

Grip of 

Fear.

No final words

Or tearful farewells

Simply leaving

Taking those first steps.

There is a time for risking

Life

Tomorrow

What might be,

Relying on those who

Profit from misery;

Daring to stake everything

Knowing there can be no turning back

Even when darkness and terror 

Have the upper hand.

There is a time for silence

Stillness 

Breath held

For fear of discovery

And arrest

Lamenting the loss 

Of once endless 

Summers of childhood

And fearless play

Whilst at the mercy

Of the tilting waters

In a treacherously 

Indifferent sea.

There is a time for relief

For death has not come,

And there are no bombs

But still there is no

Welcome

No journey’s end here

No music 

No songs to celebrate

An arrival

Simply a moving on 

Through bewilderingly 

Unfamiliar landscapes

Full of strange tongues.

There is a time for shelter

Safety

Protection

Rest and recognition

The warmth of human arms

A place for the release

Of tears

And in time stirrings of a hope

That deepest longings 

Might create a new beginning

}}}That music almost lost

Will be heard again

A melody now carried

By many

Voices

Together

Stronger 

Written by Chris Matthews