Saturday 1st March -

 Sorry, I got distracted; Why are we watching Britain's Got Talent? Because, in spite of everything, there will come a singer, or a dancer who is truly exceptional, or a comedian who is genuinely, hilariously comic. 

It's a bit like the saying 'you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince'; there are an awful lot of acts that are so excruciating that I need to leave the room...

Apologies. I'll try and get back on track...

....

I think I'm going to have to embark upon a cull of my bookshelves again. This time last year we must have taken a hundred books to the charity shops. Somehow the shelves are filling up again. No, there's so 'somehow' about it. I blame the World of Books 'buy three, get a fourth free', so of course I always order 4.

Following up a comment from Lyssa Medana yesterday, I've ordered John Benjamin's collection 'Church Poems'. And I appear to have clicked on three other books as well;

'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards has been on my 'must-buy' list for years, and I saw there was a workbook as well; and then I tripped across a perfect book for a friend's birthday. 

Oh well. Perhaps a book cull can be a project for March.

.......

I didn't buy this book, although the reviews are very enthusiastic. 

I expect I will succumb, but I really, really must give the Book Club book a proper go, and finish a couple of other books that are half- read first.

The book, The Land of Spices, came up when I did a Google search on 'where is the land of spices?' when I was thinking about the next line, the last line (so sad it's nearly finished) of the poem;

'The land of spices, something understood'

According to Google the land of spices is India. 

I'm not sure if George Herbert was thinking of curry...

The wise men bought frankincense and myrrh when they worshipped the infant Jesus at his birth. It was something understood, back then, and is now, that God is worshipped not only in words, music, in the creation of beautiful art, by the way we stand, sit, kneel, hold our hands, but in the burning of fragrant spices, 'a pleasing odour for the Lord'.

So, at the end of this journey, do I have a better understanding of prayer? 

I think I do, it's something like this, perhaps?

Bachianas Brazileiras no 5, by Villa Lobos.