Prayer Walk Poem by Paul du Plessis

Feet crunch cracked mud uphill
Breaking a twig underfoot
While passengers take their pews
In the train speeding northwards
As the silence of stillness interrupts
The regular rattle of rail-track
Echoing emptiness.

Arms swing militarily to cross the heart
Pounding the rib-cage
Vaulted cathedral ceiling
With the sky threatening the weather
As the silence of stillness interrupts
The strike of the clock-tower,
Hollow within.

Finger skin stretches in the clasp of prayer
Genuflecting in obeisance
While Achilles propels the heel forward
On the padded kneeler of the forest floor
As the silence of stillness interrupts
The clumsy dove
Struggling with nothing.

The mind in auto-mode
Takes no thought for the morrow;
The anticipating soul awaits its cleansing
From leftover questions and unresolved dreams
As the silence of stillness interrupts
The tinnitus of age
And dysphasic speech.

A bead of sweat drops from the temple
When speed quickens towards the summit
Breaking the tape of a spider’s thread
Escaping the fire that is not frankincense
As the silence of stillness interrupts
The creak of the gate
To a vacant field.

The body relaxes in meditation
Enlivening the spirit as the mists clear
And blood surges through metatarsals
Energising the trunk
As the silence of stillness interrupts
A woodpecker’s knock
Seeking admission.

(July 2009)

At the bench at the top of path alongside Hawkwood after an early morning walk.