As I walked out one morning...

Tomorrow I would be setting out on an incredible journey, a journey to see the world, and I would be going alone. I would leave behind everyone and everything and would strike out for the unknown.

I knew very little of the outside world, but I was young, strong, keen, full of energy, naïve and ready to risk all to satisfy my curiosity, my thirst for knowledge, That was more than enough for me.

As I stood out in the open among the shadows of the evening, a cool gentle breeze caressing my face and with the glorious sight of the setting sun slowly going down over the horizon, I tried to imagine what my leaving would be like and whether I would falter at the last moment and turn back, overwhelmed by a sudden rush of misgivings.


I saw myself striding out confidently and walking into the distance, glancing back now and again to wave goodbye to my devoted mother and then eventually disappearing from view, leaving behind the certainties of an existence I knew for the uncertainties of a future unknown but always beckoning. Where I had come from would recede from sight and where I was going to would rise before me, beckoning. A door to my past would close fast as a door to the future opened, inviting me to pass through.

I was nervous and a little afraid but I was bold and I felt ready. And most important of all, I was determined. It was now or never. Now that I had my youth and my health, now that I could start afresh, again and again, if need be.

I looked up a the darkening sky, ahead at the disappearing sun, down at the growing shadows and I felt a certain frisson run down my spine. The world was out there waiting for me and this was one appointment with destiny that I would not miss.

But all that was for tomorrow. This was tonight and I needed to get a good night’s sleep, as I would be striking out early in the morning with the first light of day. I had to be clear-minded and strong.

I turned around and made my way back inside, ascended the stairs to my bedroom, as my mother and my little brother slept, and lay on my bed in the dark without bothering to change. I cleared my mind of everything and I was soon somewhere far away; tonight I slept, but tomorrow I would be setting out on a journey of a lifetime.

********************

That was many years ago, and I do not regret it. I had the naivety and the rashness of youth at the time. And today I’m here to tell the tale. Now my ambitions are not so grand. Now surviving from one day to the next exercises me enough. I had my time and I lived it. Soon it will be time to know another world… I am already tiring of this one….

Below this heaven...

Below this heaven, under this field,

lie the bones of the victims of war,

the fallen whose days were cut short,

whose future was the present and

whose present was without a future.

Below this darkening cloud-flecked sky,

under these red poppies newly sprung,

repose the remains of the hapless youths

who never had the chance to blossom

nor to grow old, for they never grew up

Under these poppies, within this rich soil,

far from the light of the now setting sun,

are all that is left of thousands of souls

propelled into of a war begun by others

and whose end they were never to see.

Below this same sky…

in these same fields…

men fought…

and men died…

and now here they lie.

The Tree of the Heavenly Way

When the time comes, when you hear the voice in your head,

when the light grows ever dim and the dark is at its darkest yet,

when the signs are there, the way will be lit, the path before you,  

Follow the furrow through the meadow, follow it to the very end,

till you come to the place where stands the tree of the celestial light.

Clasp its gnarled trunk and feel the communion of Earth with Heaven.

Let it lift you gently, let it raise you towards the light from above,

do not fear, do not fret, trust in its wondrous power of release.

It will bear you aloft, comfort and cradle you, lighten your soul,

embrace you in its mighty arms, caress you in its golden mane.

Up and up it will carry you, skyward towards the heavenly light,

you will be as the lightest of feathers, weightless and floating free.

Up and up, ever higher, till there's naught between you and the sky,

till the Heaven-sent spirit descends, flowing over you, body and soul

and wrests you from the gentle grasp of the tree of the celestial light,

to bear you still higher and higher, drawing you up to the firmament.

There you will pause, caught twixt Heaven and Earth, life and death

where the divine soul breaks free of its mortal prison and flutters

gliding through the invisible ether, on its last journey to the Eternal.

When the time comes, follow the furrow through the meadow,

until you come to the great golden tree of the heavenly way,

and there you will find the peace and the calm of abiding Grace

where Light banishes Darkness and where Heaven meets Earth. 

Beacons of fire, beacons of hope...

The colours flapped in the fresh breeze, the beacon-fire threw tongues of flame skyward, and the sea beyond whispered to us like a fretful mother. We prepared to bed down for the night, and to keep a vigil over the commemorative fire. Tomorrow would be a new day, a new dawn, a new beginning, with fresh hopes and aspirations, the spiritual door to the rest of our lives and the birth of a new era.

The beacon of fire could be seen for miles around

We slept in turns and somewhat fitfully, our sleep accompanied by the crackle of the nearby raging beacon-fire, one of thousands lit throughout the land to mark our Queen's long and glorious reign, to celebrate her stalwart occupancy of the throne of this hard-bitten northern land whose proud people had faced countless trials over the centuries and come through every ordeal made stronger and more resolute.

This beacon and thousands of others lit on this chill-laden night, the most primitive and most ancient symbol of life, renewal and raw energy, proudly announced the rebirth of this scarred land and a belief in a strong and dynamic future. It would burn throughout the night and into the morrow before it gave up its last gasps.


I half-closed my eyes and half-looked towards the leaping fire ahead and the darkening sky above and I was not afraid anymore... it would be alright, there was hope and there would be a tomorrow springing phoenix-like from the flames of the present....