THE MORNING AFTER

      reading much theology

 

It must be an unforgettable experience

to be invaded by an immense idea -

to be seized by it's synchronicity,

when its kairosity is so obviously apparent,

to be dominated by its architectonic qualities,

its power to reconcile so many contradictions,

opening up cramped perspectives to brave new vistas;

this thought so strong, so captivating, so ultimate,

that oblivious to the world around,

the thinker stands remote upon that peak in Darien -

but fortunately, only philosophers and theologians

are prone to such attacks.

More sober, less ambitious souls

must be as I, content to experience,

mark, learn and inwardly digest,

those humbler moments, those common-place events,

which weave the tapestry of daily life,

giving it texture, colour and design,

making it livable, enjoyable and,

if we have eyes to see, strangely wonderful...

 

 

as, for example, this first morning tea,

enjoyed leisurely in bed,

the taste smooth enough to please the palate,

strong enough to stimulate the senses,

readying the body for the day's encounters,

readying the mind for the day's first prayer:

Lord, help me to live this day, as every day,

with gratitude, good sense and kind intention,

and, this morning, if possible,

to finish that learnéd volume, with

(if amazing grace can stretch so far)

more profit than my irreverence deserves...

 

                                Stanley Brice Frost

                                    August 2001

 

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kairosity - fortunate timeliness (but do not look for it in a dictionary)

Darien - 'stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes, he stared at the Pacific...silent upon a peak in Darien' - Keats: 'On first looking into Chapman's Homer'.

mark, learn and inwardly digest - The Book of Common Prayer, the Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent.