ANDY DELMEGE
Once
Once,
in what was perhaps the most difficult time of my life,
I, who never dream,
dreamed so vividly and inescapably –
wrapped in my cloak
rowed from shore
through moonlit winter sea
ever deeper into trust.
under the gaze of the gull
through the clearing under the yew tree
past tennis court debris
battered bench and lake,
under the gaze of the gull
here, in the hesitation,
surveying August end
it seems important
to note the cusp
the time of year
while all the while,
all the walk, the
seagull stood sentinel
upon the dead branch
above the lake
picked out by sun
Andy Delmege is an Anglican parish priest serving in outer estate parishes in Birmingham. A sabbatical walk to Santiago de Compostela kindled a developing interest in pilgrimage and has led to the blog pilgrimpace. Andy enjoys walking, cycling, reading and writing in his spare time. He was a founder member of the Society of Sacramental Socialists.
