I Am Said I (Huruma)

A SLIDESHOW OF THE CAMINO to the music of HANZ ZIMMER - A SMALL MEASURE OF PEACE

i Some people are great At telling you how To grieve  Or not Not this long anyway  Only the Swan Of the damaged wing And attentive eye Would ever allow this Length of time  These years But she allows it This ageing grief That will not Let go completely  For that would mean Forgetting And forgetting is not Allowed ii It is easier now  Less harrowing Not even dramatic But its approach Brings a sudden Change of mood Tears prickling The edge of my eye Pent up breath Shuddering in my breast Memory of that day The preceding days Last deeds done Final words spoken Not knowing They were last or final Memory of that day When word of death broke in So suddenly to rob us Summoning us from Our varied normalities Drawing us in To its abnormal achievement No consolation Ever will avail This side of heaven And if there is a certain peace It is the deep silence Of God at Golgatha

May 11, 2013 The Ascension Of Jesus Into Heaven May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory... enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you... (Ephesians 1:17-23) At 4.00 on the morning of May 11 in 20 centres around Ireland people gathered for the Pieta House 'Darkness Into Light' run-walk in aid of the charity that helps those who are suicidal and seeks to prevent suicide happening. Left Shankill at 3.15am in the rain and couldn't believe the traffic as I came near Donabate - it took 15 mins to cover  last 5km. A great crowd. We were part of something very special. Down in Roscommon my cousin Janette  was walking with her husband Kevin. Neighbours from Mervue were walking in Galway. I did this especially in memory of one relative of mine  who took his own life, for another who tried and also as a prayer for anyone thinking of suicide, for the families affected by its terrible pain, for all of...

Peace I bequeath to you,  my own peace I give you,  a peace the world cannot give,  this is my gift to you.  (John 14) The beautiful words of Jesus, the beautiful reality of the Peace He brings into our disturbed and troubled lives.  A central part of my calling, a core part of who I am as a person is to be a man of peace, to bring peace into people’s lives, to create an atmosphere of peace. In this I know I am faithful to the gift that God has given me, a gift that is not for myself primarily but for others.  But there are times when Peace is not what God is giving. Jesus speaks these troubling words in Matthew 10:32 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword”  Some years ago I was having a troubled, sleepless night, feeling in myself a distress that was not simply mine but was bigger and beyond me. I struggled for a few hours before getting out of bed t...

At the other end Of a chastising hand Sting on the face Broken nose Spinning head Blood-flow unchecked Child’s body falling over Love is uncertain Tender arms enfolding A hold that grows Too tight Creeping hand groping The child’s privacy Mocking And all the mothers Drinking tea in the warm kitchen Bend over laughing Almost choking On their biscuits Red faces paler Than that of the child Mortified It isn’t true to say The hand that hurts Is the hand that heals The hand is impotent And cannot undo the done And there is no wound To speak of or look at It too has its privacy Finding its own destructive Consolations committed To its own annihilation

I feel like a Yank Returning to this rugged Remoteness Her face in repose Utterly unfamiliar In death  It is her voice That remains The bright kindliness With which she used To speak my name Summoning summer days Of another time Young men Fishing Fast driving Effortless friendship I remember David diving Into the bottle-green Calm of the deep To retrieve the oar That had slipped Drifting away Like a prophecy Coming back To the shallow shore And the dying Out of our friendship I still don’t know How we became Such strangers I think of him now Pray for him s leeping  Slipping away Far away from here The innocent bed We shared back then In the way that young friends did As close in soul As in body The tender warmth Of it The beauty And though it is lost It is a history That abides within my soul Treasured