HOLDING ON
Standing on a bridge in time
take hold of what is yours;
grasp it, hold it tight if you believe it be of truth,
though yet you cannot know.
New things come to be
that once were not,
and what you take into the future
forms your future life;
that which you hold to so cheerfully
becomes your cornerstone
or your burden.
Choose well, then, at this time
of deciding.Pain gives way to peace for the wise man;
for the wise woman also, the gruelling valley floor
becomes the place of The Child's incarnation,
at the painful place of birthing,
in the cosmic dance of new creation.Swirling mists of time may part
and reveal eternity,
glimpsed in a visitation
or two;
echoed from the deep past
into the present,
glancing off a virgin's acquiescence,
a craftsman's ‘aye'
and a strange preacher's torture …………………So take what you have
if it seems to hold the truth,
for what you take into your future is
for your cornerstone
or for your burden,
your diminishing,
or your glory.Barry Hutchinson
Flat tide Spirit
Flat tide Spirit
roving softly
through harbours of the mind;
barely moving,
almost still,
powerful;
seeking the damaged detritus
of early days
(not completely wasted!)
amongst the kelpy accretions of time,
bringing with you healing
from the great,
burning ocean of divinity.Barry Hutchinson
Director of St Cuthbert's Centre, Holy Island