Where do I find the hand of God?
I find it in the tracery of a spider's web
I find it in the way a cat rubs her paw over her eyes
I find it in rain-drops hanging on a washing-line
I find it in the long shadows made by crockery on a kitchen table at dawn
I find in the curves of bare branches in winter
I find it in the way a newt, toad or frog scuttles through the long damp grass
I find it in the crystals of a pure chemical compound
I find it in the squawking of sea-gulls driven far up-river
I find it in the voice of my dead father recorded on tape
saying only " Here is some beautiful music.  I hope you will all enjoy it".
I find God's hand everywhere in the heart of earthly matter
1986
-----------------------------------------
 

What is Science?

Science isolates the properties of matter
It is about the real world or is it?
In the real world people natter and natter
And science cannot make sense of that.

Did God light the blue touch-paper
And set things going with a big bang?
Then letting the world get on with things
Evolution creating claw and fang?

It could not be like this
For God himself is within the atom
He looks after every sparrow
In ways we cannot fathom.

Someone took home a little lost kitten
From the violent streets last night
It is the God within who does these things
And from the shadows creates the light
2000
 
 

Advent
(Based on Baruch 5:1-9- Jerusalem Bible 1968)
 

When the mountains are flattened
We will see a glory wild
When the valleys are filled in
We will see a little child

The mountains are the obstacles
Like envy, anger, rage
Which are left for us to shift
Before we see the glory of our age

The valleys are the barriers
Of pride and sloth and fear
Which we must step across
Then Christ's glory will be near.
2001
---------------------------------------

No Words- a prayer

I am earth-bound when I wish to rise to heaven
I crawl about in a dark place, rushing here and there
I do not know the words to say to God, so ask him
Just to find the words and say them for me.
2001
-----------------
Solstice blues

Down down down
I am gloom
I am jelly
I am a worm

Rubbish piles high
There is some noise
I sigh and sigh
Gone are all joys

Imagine a cat
T'will move and jump
Never goes down
Or gets the hump
Imagine some flowers
Are growing wild
On Hackney Marshes
Some lovely hours
--------------------------------------------
The shortest day
Just clouds, no rain
No movement outside
A grey window pain

Enough of all this
There is work to do
And no other hands
It will see me through

                       Joan Hughes 21.12.00
 

Uranium 238

Snow flakes are falling
They make the earth clean
Even the rubbish dumps
Look fit to be seen

Are there alpha particles?
In the dunps of Kosovo
Where children are playing
Over balls bending low

Is the snow lying thickly?
Hiding uranium thirty-eight
Covering over the armoured shells
Where alpha particles lie in wait

                Joan Hughes 19.1.01.

Hackney's open spaces
Are stunning places
To walk and wonder
To just stand under
The big, sprouting tree
By the River Lea

Watch wheeling gulls
As they make their way
To return to the sea
For food and for play
Quiet flows the river
Be it so for ever.
2001
----------------------
Easter

Dawn chorus in the inner city
Reminds us of the Divine Milieu
It brings us peace and felicity
Shows God's love as gentle as the dew

Creator God who made the sparrow
Touches our hearts with love's arrow
Christ's resurrection echoed in Spring
God's loving brush over everything
2001

Endless Days

Lying on top of a haystack
Do you remember those glad days?
And how I loved you endlessly
Dreaming under the sun's hot rays

We explored the universe
In our imagination
Infinity attracted us
In silent adoration

Incomprehesible infinity
Roaming through the stars
Adventures beckoned us
Who had no worldy cares

Seemingly endless days are gone
Only remaining in our memory
Images returning sometimes
Bringing glimpses of felicity
2001
-
The Peacock

In return for cake
The peacock's display
Was given to me
On this summer day

This male seemed so pleased
With my company
No hen was in sight
He had only me

Targeted feathers
Were proudly unfurled
Which lifted and cheered
My view of the world

His call was a croak
But blending with geese
He picked up the crumbs
And wanted so to please

With tourist's camera
His image was caught
Taken round the globe
Where children are taught
-2001
 

------------------------------
A Quiet Man from Afghanistan

My watch strap is quite new
A pale, quiet man fixed it
He spoke with a slight accent
He stood all day- would not sit

"You have done a good job
At a moderate price.
Where do you come from?" asked I
Thinking that he was quite nice.

"I am Asian," he answered
"But you're pale. Can you be Indian?"
No, from Northern parts
Yes, I come from Afghanistan.

Life goes on just as usual
A flying kitten hit my hand
A clever cat, a cheerful cat
Cats live here and in desert sand.
2000
-------------------------

Everywhere bombs

Thinking of Afghanistan
Makes us feel very, very sad
Bombs dropping everywhere
Makes us feel very, very bad
When will it ever end?
Starting on Christian Sunday
To clear out some bad guys
When will we find another way?
-----------------------

Poetry is an exercise of the imaginaion
With tongue and paws and tail
My cat writes poems also
When she lets out a wail

She is a sucking cat
Not sitting on the mat
But sucking at my clothes
Imagines me as big cat
 

----------------------
Doggerel

The worst of verse
Is called doggerel
But at least these writers
Usually know how to spell
Doggerel writers
have no sense of rhythm

The next in merit
Is called simply verse
Moderately readable
Some pieces are much worse

The most inspiring
Is called poetry
Beginners usually
Do not aspire so high

Rhyming does not make verse
Turn into doggerel
Not rhyming does not promote
Most verse into poetry

To rhyme or not to rhyme
That is the question
Sometimes there is no time
To think much about this

-------------------------
The Urban Fox

The rubbish bags are torn
Thus fox leaves tell-tale signs
Then barking so softly
The night hours full of whines

It seems a fight goes on
Is Ashley my cat crying?
I check her chair at midnight
Relieved I find her lying

At mid-day my cat goes out
On a very frosty morning
Then fox creeps into garden
In silence; it gives no warning

Horizontally it holds its tail
As big as a small dog
It boldly walks along the ground
While Ashley lies like a log.
-----------------------