Don't Just Sit There

A couple days away, with other clergy colleagues, permission to step out of the normal routine, refresh and clear the head, with the very timely topic of 'how to lead in a world without maps' by the Archbishop of York who challenged/encouraged us to reflect a write a poem...

At which point I realised it had been a very long time since I had written a poem. And that I still had the opening line of a poem in my head that had been percolating for a year.

There was nothing for it but to go for a long walk by the sea in the afternoon, and then finally write the poem, or at least record the meandering thought.

It started with an inspiration about rocks, and as there were plenty of rocks to be seen along the walk. They started to shape and illustrate the poem along the way...

Don't just sit there like a rock...

A passing disdainful comment

swept along in a whirlwind of self-importance,

a tornado of furious activity.

But what did the rock do to offend you?

Rock, solid and stable

Rock, battered by waves but

unmoved

unafraid

unimpressed by the storm.

Striations pressed by millenia

Crystals captured in a moment

Rock

cradling tide pool creatures

sheltering fairy forrests

all gracious curves and jagged edges

lifeless, yet full of life.

A rock might contain worlds.

One could do worse than sit there like a rock.