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Canticles

Canticles are poems or songs of praise to God. The word canticle was present when I began writing them; however I do not feel bound by tradition. Sources I have resonated with have been the Song of Songs (Old Testament), and the Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore, which I read many years ago. However, it is Nature that is the wellspring of these prose poems. Here is one written to a stream:

Sister Stream, exhilarating over stones, leaping clean in the air, mountain strong, unbridled from the belly of the Mother. Sight of you washes my soul clean, washes my slate clean, frees me from all bondage; hearing you cascade makes my blood remember its song. In you I am baptised beyond all denomination, now and forevermore.

Sister Stream, exhilarating over stones, leaping clean in the air, mountain strong, unbridled from the belly of the Mother. Sight of you washes my soul clean, washes my slate clean, frees me from all bondage; hearing you cascade makes my blood remember its song. In you I am baptised beyond all denomination, now and forevermore.