image by Rebekah Choat
Lord, let me be
a spiderling,
securely growing, thriving,
though hanging by
a thread.
~ Rebekah Choat
Let Me Be
Category Archives: poetry
A Better Resurrection by Christina Rossetti
I have no wit, no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numbed too much for hopes or fears;
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
I lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is in the falling leaf:
O Jesus, quicken me.
My life is like a faded leaf,
My harvest dwindled to a husk:
Truly my life is void and brief
And tedious in the barren dusk;
My life is like a frozen thing,
No bud or greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall — the sap of spring;
O Jesus, rise in me.
My life is like a broken bowl,
A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perished thing;
Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
O Jesus, drink of me.
~ Christina Rossetti
Out of the Sea
Small as a world, this smooth round stone
you gave to me, and large as alone,
and grey as the sea it rolled in from,
hurled on the shore to be brought home.
Within its sphere are foam and sky
and bite of salt and seagull’s cry
and height of wave and stretch of sand,
and here I hold it in my hand.
It sings a song of tideswept stars
and deeps where untold wonders are.
It keeps the memory of the wind
and brings me whispers of a friend.
I can’t be lost — it anchors me,
this smooth round stone out of the sea.
~ Rebekah Choat
Garden Charm
image by Rebekah Choat
Lavender, rosemary, marjoram, mint,
Sweetest of herbs in my garden close,
Gracing the morning with their mingled scent,
Lavender, rosemary,marjoram, mint.
Lavender, rosemary, marjoram, mint,
Holiness, purity, safety and peace,
Comfort, remembrance, healing, content,
Lavender, rosemary, marjoram, mint.
Lavender, rosemary, marjoram, mint,
Happiness, respite from sorrow, heart’s ease,
Brightness and deep breath and friendly intent,
Lavender, rosemary, marjoram, mint.
Lavender, rosemary, marjoram, mint,
Sweetest of herbs in my garden close,
Gracing the morning with their mingled scent,
Lavender, rosemary, marjoram, mint.
~ Rebekah Choat
This day in history
This time yesterday —
or twenty-four years ago,
it might have been —
the whole world —
or maybe it was just my bed —
heaved and convulsed and spun round,
madly methodically crushing me.
After eternity —
or a few hours, perhaps —
the universe —
or my room, one or the other —
stood solid again, though shaken,
and I was not destroyed.
~ Rebekah Choat
Contentment
Good friends, a good book,
a cool Saturday morning –
here is contentment.
~ Rebekah Choat
Good Night Moon
image by Rebekah Choat
The shy moon
slips through the clouds to
whisper good night.
~ Rebekah Choat
I’m participating in National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). Today is the first day I’ve really followed the prompt provided – to write a lune, a sort of simplified haiku counting words 3/5/3 instead of syllables 5/7/5.
I wish for you…
I wish for you a
gentle green awakening
under soft grey skies.
~ Rebekah Choat
There Is No Frigate Like a Book
image by Rebekah Choat
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –
~ Emily Dickinson
Lodged
image copyright Rebekah Choat
The rain to the wind said,
“You push and I’ll pelt.”
They so smote the garden bed
that the flowers actually knelt,
and lay lodged — though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt.
~ Robert Frost
