Reading · Perspectives Magazine Substack

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Multitudes of voices
in the worldwide wilderness,
the marketplace of certainties –
‘Get your freedom here! This way, salvation!’
– while in the desert of uncertainty,
the underworld within,
seductive voices, alluring lights –
which is Lucifer and which is He?
which is Satan, which is me?
Who am I to choose a way?
to know the truth? to carry life?
In the evening, I make my offering,
not pigeons, lambs or bulls –
only fluttering doubt,
bleating weakness,
blundering loss of direction.
Night: I am taken
up to the ocean where all ways lead,
where there are no voices, only Word
and all lights pale in the sun, the Son.
In the morning: here it is, inside me,
enchanted into human form,
my companion in the desert,
our companion in the world,
a still voice, singing:
My joy, my love, my darling, thou
my sister, brother, companion, thou
my neighbour, friend and stranger, thou
the heart of love – to you I bow.
-Peter Howe
The first line of the final stanza is borrowed from The Christ Child's Lullaby, a Hebridean song found in Carmina Gadelica by Alexander Carmichael.
Peter Howe lives in Glasgow, is retired and writes poetry. He is a freelance editor and proofreader, and an editor of Perspectives. See: www.peterhowepoetry.co.uk

You can hear Tom Ravetz’ poem, Generation, that he wrote for his congregation this week here.

Feeling the Divine
Summer School on the Trinity Epistle with presentations, contemplative exercises and conversation.

On 26 July, 9 and 23 August at 7pm BST

The first session is
Conscious of our humanity – The experience of the Father-God

The link for the live stream is here.

The links for the following sessions will be sent out nearer the time.

We will take as our starting point the words spoken with the three crosses in the Act of Consecration and deepen them by looking at the Trinity Epistle and Creed.

These events will be held as webinars on Substack and are open to all. A donation is requested.

As seems to happen with many Substacks, we have reached a plateau of around 250 readers. We are overjoyed that the poems reach so many already; we also wonder whether more people might enjoy reading them. This is the appeal: if everyone who reads this poem forwarded it to one person, our outreach would be increased.

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The still voice

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