Monday, April 11, 2022

Spiritual Journey Thursday Except On Monday

I missed April's Spiritual Journey Thursday because of no internet at home, but it was such a great prompt that I just couldn't let it go by. Karen, our host, sent us this:


I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need,
the wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

     - from the Northumbria Community
 
 
She encouraged us to write something inspired by these wonderful words. I thought of the nightmares I have been having lately, and the sleepless hours filled with worry. Here's what I wrote:


I bind unto myself this night,
the steady, slow approach of day,
the sure returning of the light,
the darkness passing on, away

I push away the nightmare’s hold
the worries, shivers of despair
the sweaty thrashing or the cold,
thoughts of the night that bite and tear

I bind unto myself this night
the knowledge that the night will pass
the knowledge of the coming light
the knowledge of the coming light

©Ruth Bowen Hersey



And now I'm off to Karen's blog to read what everyone else wrote this month!

4 comments:

Tabatha said...

Very nice, Ruth!

Karen Eastlund said...

Ruth: Thanks for this, I can feel it. Prayers...

Fran Haley said...

Ruth - I, too, hold to the promise of the coming light in this temporary darkness. Just beautiful-

Susan Koehler said...

I'm slowly catching up. This poem is beautiful, Ruth.