AT THE BATHING HUT CAFE (A Prayer)

 

Take me further Lord

Than I had planned to go this day

 

To pause by the sea

And hear you speak

In its heaving crashing waves

The liveliness of wind

 

Lingering longer there

Over coffee on a bench

At the Bathing Hut Café

Let me see You Lord

In the delightful kaleidoscope

Of every human colour

Skin and clothes

Soft shades seriously

Pondering the mystery

Of all these sacred lives

Hidden and revealed

The significance of the least

 

The shielded vulnerable lives

Of these coronavirus times

Protected and alone

The dying whom I escort

To the veil of death anointed

Ready to enter into Life

 

The medics who touch our wounded

Unwell bodies so gracefully

Healthy runners, surfers, cyclists

Walkers walking dogs and not

The children screaming my name

From the playground

And those who paint me pictures

The addict on the street

Who needs a cure

The youth who trusts enough

To tell me how he really is

The single seeking love

The woman making lace

Knitting her prayed-upon blankets

For the child to be baptized

Bakers baking bread

And those who stand in line to buy

 

Parents engaged in every loving labour

The man who clears my path by hand

Of every weed

And all who lay their gifts

Of food and flowers and every

Other delight upon my door-step

The men, women and children

Who tell me that they love me

And all who care that I am well

In my solitary life and safe

In that Sacred Sanctuary 

Beneath the lamp that never goes out

The Tabernacle of all Grace

 

You bid me fill my mind Lord

With these and every other good

All that deserves praise and

All that is yet to be told

 

Things that are true, noble and right

Pure, lovely and honourable

 

You bid me be faithful

In every little thing so that I

May be trusted with great

The greatness of Your own Joy

 

You bid us to so fill our minds

And hearts and souls and bodies

That we may find solace when troubled

That we may be at Peace.

 

By this I will give You glory O Lord

And bless Your Name forever. Amen!