Wednesday 2nd December

 Today's Advent Calendar tea;

So who thought tea should be cherry bakewell flavoured? I tried it; it tasted as though it would do me some good. However not a flavour I shall be seeking out!

I am way behind with daily drawings; here are a few from November pages, although the artwork was done yesterday or the day before. 

News of my father;

My brother is visiting my father as I am typing this blog post; he is making a steady improvement, but will be staying in for the rest of this week and over the weekend.

That is giving us time to get our heads round how to set up whatever arrangements may be needed.

Today's RS Thomas poem is this;

Kneeling

Moments of great calm,

Kneeling before an altar

Of wood in a stone church

In summer, waiting for the God

To speak; the air a staircase

For silence; the sun’s light

Ringing me, as though I acted

A great rôle. And the audiences

Still; all that close throng

Of spirits waiting, as I,

For the message.

Prompt me, God;

But not yet. When I speak,

Though it be you who speak

Through me, something is lost.

The meaning is in the waiting.

I find is extraordinary how the poem shifts focus according to how I read it; rather like how a phrase in music is transformed by how it is articulated (the combination of smooth and detached notes, or where you place the emphasis)

I have read this poem line by line, as it appears on the page, and also shifting the reading following the punctuation;

 

the air a staircase for silence

the sun's light ringing me

as though I acted a great role

And the audiences still

all that close throng of spirits waiting

Fascinating.