1143

The owl, unseen, sweeps silent on the vole;

The cat sneaks up upon the baby bird;

The tied dog howls into the coming dawn;

The brown rat scutters darkly and unheard;

Each one happy, living in the now,

Oblivious to death which lurks unreckoned

A breath away, yet cannot terrify

Where minds are focussed only this second.

          But human minds fret endelessly between

          The faulted past and the furtive void

          Knowing failure cannot be restored

          Or coming challenges, by thought, ignored.

          So we endure the present as we are toyed

          By Time which does not care to intervene.

Brian Hick March 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 25.3.24

 1094

Be not afraid -your word comes in the night

When memory stirs shadows in my mind

And sleep ignores my yearning for the light.

Be not afraid.

Darkness holds no terror and I find

Consolation in solitude, or the sight

Of others' happiness; but there behind

The smiling lurks a cankered blight

Which rots away all hope that life is kind

Until your Word prepares me for the fight.

Be not afraid.

Brian Hick January 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 14.1.24

 1085

New Year

I have a list of things I need to do

            To fill the time from now till then

            But sense the moment will come, when

I've done them all, and fear what will ensue.

Can I find a new way to perceive

            The long gap between wake and sleep

            Which will not require me to keep

An hourly check on what I might achieve?

Can I just let time slip by;

            Ignore the email and the phone,

            Switch off the TV, be alone

Without constraint or need to question why;

Sit and read, perhaps listen to some Bach;

            Sit and write, for my own pleasure,

            Sit and think, as if this leisure

Were a gift, a chance for a new start.

Brian Hick January 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 7.1.24

 967

WNO in Brum

Is a day ever wasted? Can it be

Retrieved and reconstructed in the light

Of reflection or philosophy.

This time I've spent just waiting for the night?

The hours, though slow, slipped easily away;

I read the paper, walked across the city,

Lounged in the Big Wok, as if the day

Had purpose and was not inclined to pity

Myself because there was nothing much to do.

I wrote a little, rang you from time to time,

Then mooched to the Hippo for the new

Cosi fan tutte, which should have been sublime

          But all I got was shoddiness and dross

          And the whole day became a total loss.

Dr Brian Hick summer 2011

©copyright Sally Hick 31.7.23

 Come on, tell me what to do?

I know I'm not alone

But, face it, I've had enough

I'd rather be at home

Sitting in the garden

Listening to the birds

For church on Sunday norning

Is getting too absurd.

Here we are, the people

Who all have our own seat

Talk over tea or coffee -

With a little cake to eat -

But ignore any input

Which might disturb our ease

From week to week or time to time

Yet accepting those which please

Like turning all our problems

Over to the Lord

Rather than doing them ourselves

Which, of course, we can't afford

Hoping that some others

Will feel that they're inspired

For after all we've been to church

What else has God required?

In a world that's failing

Where everything seems mad

Our Sunday morning sanity

Is surely not that bad?

And just because we're choosing

To leave things up to God

Letting him clean up the mess

Who'd think that that was odd?

For after two millennia

Of churches in the world

What difference have you noticed

Of better lives unfurled?

Unless you're counting science

And philosophical thought

Which fought against theology

To create the world it bought

By standing up for humans

Ignoring all the kant

Of patriachal power

And the constant puerile rant

But now even the science

Is ignored by those who claim

Conspiricy theatricals

Though children die in pain.

Jesus said I am the Truth

But until we are clear

What truth this is, I much regret

We'll never find it here.

Brian Hick

©copyright Sally HIck 16.4.22