Spring
We should celebrate
This wildest
Erupting
In Spring.
With colours recklessly
Splashed everywhere
In this the season of new
Daily episodes
Of wonder
And delight.
Autumn is turned on its head:
Not the richness the life’s ebbing,
But buds bursting
Hearts thirsting
Green shoots on grey branches
Marking
Not the end,
But a million points
Of the transforming
Of earth.
And even the soil
Smells
Newly
The promise.
After the dying
The fading
The crying
The slowing of the living
Winter’s imperceptible crawl,
The freezing of sap and sinew
And the shrivelling and hollowing of hope
Comes Another
From the brilliant far side
Of Death
Breathing into the dying,
Sparking fires of love
In hate-darkened, frosted hearts,
Flames of hope
For the greyness,
A gleam of a dream
In the scarred, battered spirit.
And the most free inhaling
Of friendly fresh air
Requiring no withdrawing,
Rubbing of blued hands
And curling in blankets.
With an unfolding
For the budding
Of the self
Where it was never
Expected.
Some call it
Resurrection.
By Ross Kingham, Director Barnabas Ministry
Printed with permission from the author.
From Whispers
Printed in VISION, church magazine ( Spring/Summer November 2013), St. Stephen’s Uniting Church, 197 Macquarie St, Sydney
After 25 years as director of Barnabas Ministries, Ross Kingham retired in 2011. “Ross made a tremendous contribution to raising awareness and facilitating practice in spiritual formation in Australia and particularly, in the Uniting Church over the past 25 years. He has offered prayerful accompaniment and wise counsel to many people, demonstrating a lasting commitment to the work of the Spirit in people’s lives.”
