There’s a space
in the service
where the warmth
comes through.
Where there are
no words
and the litany rests
for a while.
Let the emptiness be filled
by the stream
of light
from the altar window.
Outside, the litany of frost
is a scaffold
to the day.
It encloses the sun.
Anne Brooke‘s fiction has been shortlisted for the Harry Bowling Novel Award, the Royal Literary Fund Awards and the Asham Award for Women Writers. She has also twice been the winner of the DSJT Charitable Trust Open Poetry Competition. Her latest poetry collection is A Stranger’s Table, and her latest novel is Maloney’s Law. Both are available from Amazon. Her work is represented by agent, John Jarrold, and she has a secret passion for birdwatching. More information can be found at http://www.annebrooke.com/ and she keeps a terrifyingly honest journal at http://annebrooke.blogspot.com.
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Posted on February 8, 2009 in Poems
17 Responses to “SPACES • by Anne Brooke”
Comments
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February 8th, 2009 at 5:03 am
This is a very powerful poem. It has a feel of Quakerism (is this the correct term?) and I can sense the deep spirituality that flows from the words. Spare and optimistic. Gorgeous. I fear only one star has registered. I meant this piece to have four or five…
February 8th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Outside, the litany of frost
is a scaffold
to the day.
And that is exact for this Sunday in snowy Britain, Anne. What a wonderful image.
February 8th, 2009 at 7:03 am
I find in this delicate loveliness of a poem a threatening in warmth found through silence (I suppose for silent prayer and self-searching) and a fright in the litany of frost as scaffolding support of day and it’s enclosing of the sun.
The cold fright and the threat stream through the loveliness.
February 8th, 2009 at 8:43 am
[...] – my poem about the litany (how perfect for a Sunday really) is now published and can be found here. You can even give it marks out of five and leave comments if you like – so go for it is what I [...]
February 8th, 2009 at 8:44 am
This is beautiful, Anne. I can well imagine the moment.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:05 am
That is a beautiful poem. I love the imagery. Perfect for today.
February 8th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Lovely poem, spare and profound.
February 8th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Thank you so much for the comments – I’m really grateful. Shame on me though for having a wandering mind through that particular service!…
Axxx
February 8th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Your verse reminds me of Edna St. Vincent Millay. You display a wonderful blending of diverse sentiments and make the stillness pregnant with light.
February 8th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Exquisite poem! Thanks!
February 9th, 2009 at 12:30 am
Hello Anne – like you I get a poem a day and some days I think oh that good and then other days I think WOW – this was a wow day – thank you for this poem. I have been writing about light and space recently and really could ‘feel’ it in this moment you have captured. Lovely writing.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Beautifully calming. Calmingly beautiful.
Joan
February 9th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Thank you again – much appreciated!
Axxx
February 10th, 2009 at 4:48 am
Lovely piece. Loved it.
Nik
February 11th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Thanks, Nik!
Axxx
February 14th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Lovely work Anne. You have captured a moment I can vividly imagine. Although as an atheist who loves churches I probably see it from a different perspective to most.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Thanks, Richard – much appreciated.
Axxx