penwithlit

Here’s a sketchbook spread of some recent thrilling bird sightings. Actually, since drawing the list, my birding has gotten even MORE thrilling. It’s my first migration season and it’s absolutely incredible out there. Birds! The best anti-depressant I have found!

How can thinking men get around
to signing the death warrant
with fingers that once played a beginning in the sand
with the sea-music of shells in their ears
through the pergolas of the years
to the table in the room
of clock time
ticking into the heart –
Outside
steps that want
to get this dangerous business finished
Night approaches and night attracts
laughter – the earth is cheerful
All things pass away
even the sigh and the
signature –

Was für Umwege für die Nachdenklichen
das Todesurteil zu unterschreiben
mit Fingern die einmal im Sande Anfang spielte
mit Muschelmeermusik im Ohr
durch die Laubengänge der Jahre
bis an den Tisch im Zimmer
der Uhrenzeit
ins Herz getickt –
Draussen Schritte die
Gefährliches ans Ende bringen wollen
die Nacht sich nähert und Nacht anzieht
Gelächter – heiter ist die Erde
Alles geht vorüber
auch der Seufzer und die
Unterschrift…

Not with swords of numbers
are mountains to be moved
Such things are better left to lovers
And always two foes
benighting the earth that
sold into the apocalypse
And always the persecuted
their destiny cut short
leaping into the flames
with eyes fixed on the Flood
seeking the Ark backwards
In the labyrinths of memory

Nicht mit Zahlenschwerten
sind Berge zu versetzen
Solches sei den Liebenden überlassen
Und immer zwei Gegner
umnachtend die Erde die
In die Apokalypse verkaufte
Und immer die Verfolgten
mit durchschnittenem Schicksal
in den Flammed springend
mit Sintflutaugen
die Arche suchend rückwärts
in den Wandelgängen der Erinnerung

During lockdown I rediscovered my joy of knitting, and recently many of my friends have become grandparents. I haven’t been able to unlock the multi-tasking skill of reading while knitting, but listening to audiobooks with needles in hand is quite achievable, and a great way of finally clearing some chunksters from the TBR. Last month I also indulged in a little supportive role play – everyone has heard about the women who sat knitting by the guillotine during the French Revolution, haven’t they?

These days it’s hard to imagine Hilary Mantel taking 13 years to find a publisher, but that is what happened here. It took her four years to write – from 1975 to 1979 – with the novel finally published in 1992. But in those days Mantel wasn’t the giantess of historical fiction that she is these days, and a novel of 880 pages would be quite a…

Each month Peter Millar, a long-time member of the Iona Community shares a reflection. At Easter it took the form of a poem which Peter asked readers to share with others.

Reference – There is no copyright on this poem. No quotes from others. It
would be great if you could share it in these days of Lent and of Easter. Thank you and let us hold God’s amazing world in our hearts. Peter.

Easter2022 Every new day across our planet there is a constant certainty moving in our midst - it is this: violence, disconnection and radical change are our sure companions and disturbers. Sometimes the whole edifice spins too fast as we ponder the human future and the divisions that ensnare us. Yet within these shadows are fragile possibilities of light always inviting us to engage with other visions and truths - ones that spring from our depths:…