Author: Ian Trimnell

Shaking Hands By Pádraig Ó Tuama 27ú lá Meitheamh, 2012 Because what’s the alternative? Because of courage. Because of loved ones lost. Because no more. Because it’s a small thing; shaking hands; it happens every day. Because I heard of one man whose hands haven’t stopped shaking since a market day in Omagh. Because it takes...

Huangguoshu Waterfall By Yi Lei [Translated from the Chinese by Tracy K. Smith & Changtai Bi]  Great stones of whitewater hammer down Onto our unhurried walk in the monument’s shade, And our cramped bed at the “Vienna Villa” And the gloomy rooms where no one spoke. Great stones of whitewater hammer Onto the statue of a...

Message in a Bottle By Wyn Cooper  I close in on facts fine as sugar poured from a bottle labeled SALT, comprehend nothing.   I hear a knock, then another, go to the door but no one’s there. I unlock it and leave it open.  When the bottle’s empty a note pops out, its paper faded as...

Thanks By David Whyte  Listen with the night falling we are saying thank you we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings we are running out of the glass rooms with our mouths full of food to look at the sky and say thank you we are standing by the water thanking it...

Evening Prayer – Christmas Eve 24 DECEMBER 2020 – 8.00pm Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga The House of Christmas by G.K. Chesterton This world is wild as an old wives’ tale, And strange the plain things are, The earth is enough and the air is enough For our wonder and our war; But our rest is as far as...

Love Brought Jesus Down From Heaven “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel; whose origins are from of old, from ancient times—and he will be our peace.” (Micah 5: 2, 5 NIV) Micah provides one of...

Ring Out, Wild Bells by Alfred, Lord Tennyson  Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die… Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of...

Good morning everyone. I hope you have not had your plans for Christmas affected by the new restrictions and have everything ready and can spend a few minutes with us all. Those of us joining will remember those who are too engrossed in preparations and cannot join in. Psalm 25 verses 3 to 9 Make me...

Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain By Li Po (China, 701-762)  The birds have vanished down the sky. Now the last cloud drains away.  We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.  [translated by Sam Hamill]  Good evening and welcome to Evening Prayer That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful, let us...

I was passionate, filled with longing, I searched far and wide. But the day that the Truthful One found me, I was at home. by Lal Ded (Kashmir, 14th century) [translated by Jane Hirshfield]  Good morning and welcome to Morning Prayer The night has passed, and the day lies open before us; let us pray with...

The Props assist the House By Emily Dickinson  Until the House is built And then the Props withdraw And adequate, erect, The House support itself And cease to recollect The Auger and the Carpenter— Just such a retrospect Hath the perfected Life— A past of Plank and Nail And slowness—then the Scaffolds drop Affirming it a...

IF  by Rudyard Kipling  If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don’t deal in...