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This book of poems comes from an honest attempt to put the spiritual highs and lows of one person into verse but it also tries to find clues to living the life of Faith by following our great heroes. The poems also tackle some of the crises we have faced recently as well as the pain we all encounter through life.
Wild Beasts and Angels is a strange title, so I should explain. In the Gospel according to St Mark, the temptation of Jesus is described as an experience linking earth and heaven, “he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him” (Mark 1:13). Perhaps St Mark is trying to say that our Lord Jesus holds within himself both the things of this world and the things of heaven. The Christian seasons of Lent and Easter teach us about how to deal with the things of “the world” as well as how to embrace, with joy, the glimpses of heaven. Many of the poems are rooted in these seasons.
This process has been joyful and has drawn me forward and upward every step of the way. I hope that you will also find some food for your soul.

Sujets

Jesus

Jesús de Nazaret

Jésus de Nazareth

Poetry

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Publié par	AuthorHouse UK
Date de parution	07 novembre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781728376479
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

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Extrait

WILD BEASTS AND ANGELS
Poems and Prayers of Life and Faith
MARK ANDREW SMITH

AuthorHouse™ UK
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403 USA
www.authorhouse.co.uk
Phone: UK TFN: 0800 0148641 (Toll Free inside the UK) UK Local: (02) 0369 56322 (+44 20 3695 6322 from outside the UK)

© 2022 Mark Andrew Smith. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/02/2022

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7646-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7647-9 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Contents
Preface
Part 1: Glimpses of Hope
God in The Dust
The Nun of Myanmar
Give Sorrow Words
War
Anger
Discipline
Action Stations
The Good Shepherd
Grace
I Do Not Care!
Part 2: The Life of Faith
Come
Such Love
Remember
May I Come In?
Perseverance
Confession
Here
The Sting of Death
Lockdown
Hope
The Last Rites
Part 3: Nature Speaks
Trees
Safe Spaces
Mother Earth
Water
Waste
Reflected
The Potter
Reversal of the Day
Wood and Nails
Fire! Fire!
Part 4: Words of Life
You Shall Not Covet
The Ark
Abraham
Rahab the Canaanite
The Prodigal Son
The Sword-Pierced Heart
The Philippian Jailer
Where Is God?
Part 5: Resurrection Life
Ash Wednesday
Wow!
Wild Beasts and Angels
Mimetic Theory
Ember Days
Gifts
The Alabaster Jar and the Thin White Tunic
Gethsemane
The Taking of Christ
The Paradox
The Triduum
Remember
Stay
Rejoice
Poems for the Easter Octave
Resurrection
The Easter Way
The Plague
Part 6: Great Lives
Damascus Road
Saint David
Saint Chad
A Song of Saint Patrick
Saint Joseph
Saint Cuthbert
Romero
The Blessed Virgin Mary
Harriet Monsell
Saint Alphege
Saint Anselm
Saint Mark the Evangelist
Christina Rossetti
Peter Chanel
The English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era
Julian of Norwich
Part 7: Heart of Africa
A Surprise on a Visit to Kenya
One Hour
The Cottage
Remember When?
The Canoe
The Tin Shed
Sunset
Joy of Africa
Preface
Discipline doesn’t have to be painful. Sometimes the catastrophising tendencies of the human mind make it so by magnifying the discomfort. The discipline of writing every day, it seems to me, is similar in experience to living the life of faith. The daily practice in solitude, the struggle to see truth clearly, the self-doubt, the frustrations of having to begin again and again, and the joy when a glimpse of heaven is given—all these will resonate with anyone who seriously attempts any pilgrimage of faith.
Some of the poems and prayers in Wild Beasts and Angels were crafted over a hundred-day period, beginning in early February 2021. I told my wife with smug assurance (something she recognised immediately from past experience) that I had decided to write one poem every single day for a hundred days. I soon discovered that this was going to require more discipline and planning than I had anticipated! With the Lent term in full swing at school and the usual fatigue which teaching and school chaplaincy brings, I soon began to find myself at my desk at home when, really, I should have been in bed.
I cannot express how writing poetry over many years has infused me with pure joy and how it has often lifted me heavenward in times of despair. It seems that the deliberation and care taken to choose each word adds new dimensions of meaning and poignancy, which is difficult to explain.
Because of the timing of my challenge, many of the poems, especially those in Chapter 5, follow the Christian journey from Ash Wednesday through Lent, and Holy Week to Easter and the Easter Octave. Chapter 6 is devoted to the great lives of the saints who are remembered every year during this period.
You may have guessed that the title of this book, Wild Beasts and Angels , comes from Saint Mark’s account of the temptation of our Lord in the desert: “He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him” (Mark 1:13).
When you read my poem entitled “Wild Beasts and Angels” in Chapter 5, you will understand my reason for choosing this title. The poem ends like this:
Tame the wild beasts and tune your ear
to angels when they’re sent.
Knit both together prayerfully;
practise a holy Lent!
Fourth Sunday before Advent
30 October 2022
Part 1
GLIMPSES OF HOPE
God in The Dust
Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited my parish in Cradock, South Africa, in 1989. In a few days, he brought a measure of healing and joy to a suffering community.
(Note: During those Apartheid years, the Goniwe family were mercilessly persecuted by the security police. )
He visited our dusty dumping ground
where Goniwes
had stirred
and strived
and suffered much.
And, spreading laughter through the tense and tortured minds,
he found the open place where human hearts are free.
Laughing all the while, he taught us
gently,
firmly,
kindly.
And every heart was strangely warmed.
The Nun of Myanmar
Ann Rose Nu Tawng is a Catholic Xaverian nun in Myanmar who tried to save the lives of young protesters on 6 March 2021 by kneeling before the police, offering to sacrifice her life.
What are you doing, Sister Ann?
Why are you standing there
with arms outstretched in Myanmar’s
angry and bloody square?
Why are you talking to those men
with passion and intent?
Don’t you remember all your vows?
Perhaps you should repent!
It isn’t seemly or correct
for nuns to scream and shout!
You should have stayed in silent prayer;
why did you dare come out?
Lord, send your holy angels now!
This nun has lost her mind.
Send them to rescue her before
she’s beaten or confined.
My daughter Ann has made her vows—
thank you for pointing out
the duties of religious life;
what being a nun’s about.
She is indeed obliged to pray
with chastity and peace;
but what she did in Myanmar—
resisting the police
and pleading with the military
with no thought for her life—
is nothing less than prayer at work,
daring to join the strife.
The outstretched arms of Sister Ann
in Myanmar’s despair
follow the footsteps of her Lord’s
self-sacrificial prayer.
Give Sorrow Words
No, I don’t want to wallow in it, Lord;
this sense of sorrow,
always
lurking
there.
Preoccupation will bring stagnation
and the stench of surrender.
Instead, I would fearlessly
search within myself,
and if I find
weeds
or boulders
or marshes
that have obstructed my way,
I will recognise them
and then find a way through,
without taking up residence
in the swampland of sorrow.
How wonderful it is to be
free
from the facade of sanctity
and to be the
me
that you know me to be.
For you have taught me
that we pray as we can
and not as we can’t.
Come, Spirit of Jesus,
play your music in me.