APPENDIX

The moment comes when truth rears up its mammoth
Head and we stare in its gaping mouth
No longer able to resist its nakedness.
Face to face we meet and grapple
With unsavoury news. We have closed
Our ears to all truth says and hidden
From it in the byways of our minds
And hearts. But truth will out
With its insistent beat and hound
Us til we grasp and own it.
Then no longer is it hard to bear
But gives us motive for renewed endeavour
And lifts us up to the high hills.
From whence comes our help?
It comes from the Lord, whose truth
Is trust, whose word is hope, whose life is love.


A day, an hour, a minute? Years beyond
The future moment stretch ahead,
Limitless in their anticipation of new
Adventure, new friends, new family.
This hope which we bear proudly
Lifts us from the dull routine
And gifts us with its breadth of vision.
Far is the road we travel, yet
We do not lack for comfort and support.
We do not tread in footsteps like
The page who found his way in deepest snow,
But rather have that vision beatific
Which lifts our spirits and is our goal.
“We shall not cease from mental strife”
But will build in
Daily life Jerusalem, here in our
Hearts, beating strong despite
Our mortal weakness. Give not in
To that despair which sickness can
Carry in its shadow,
But use it to construct a
Life faith filled beyond al measure
And bear this yoke upon us
For its burden is easy and we shall find rest.
Thus shall we learn of him and rejoice
In his peace away from worry and conceit.




So we have come to this, a day or two away
And we will have shared a lifetime, as day
By day we hurtled through the years,
Some good and gladsome, some full of tears.
It is not this or that which made us live
But the sum total we had to give
And give we have, large measure,
Yet we have taken too, of each one’s treasure.
That inner self which we are slow to share
Became no barrier but a joy of care.
How have I loved you all these days?
I cannot count, too many ways
Have lit the often darkling time
Yet of one thing I am certain sure,
Your love, most steadfast and secure
Has wrapped me round and carried me
Through pain and often sorrow …

For more information on these poems, contact edmund@balnaves.org