The Angel Coast or Unexpected Gold

Bright heaven has let down her guard

And falls be-dazzled on the winter sea

The torrent breakers grey and wild

Erupt in scintillating cries of light

Bright platinum flashing white and

flecked with unexpected gold.

How came this glorious gift

To such a cold stone shore?

The whitening chalk cliffs, tender

Honoured yet, breathe phantom like

and mute

Beside excoriating power volcanic

Bursting from the home of light

In unrelenting bliss.

Kiss now our homely earth

And fling your star falls in the lucid air

As throngs of birds in undulating joy

Pitch up

and fall and

Rise again

Against the anguish of the blistering gales

Leaving with the myriad plays of light.

Lightless birds, heightening the air with cries

Fine soundings of an infinite wealth of time and turning space

frothed and breakered

in the drenching roar of sound

out, far beyond the realm of all our pinpoint shore-bound

possibility

this too much turmoil of unmeasurable beauty

pierces forth in

unreciprocal power.

Unending and unbearable glory

tears and sweeps away

the last of all my heart’s defences

And all this so

unmeasured glory

enters in.

Sarah de Nordwall October 27^th 2002

Swimming in the Falling Star Cave

You can only reach the cave by boat.

I was excited by that.

And once you enter in
You leave the brilliant sun outside
And so, the water although crystal pure
Is dark,
But all the same, I longed to dive right in.

Just then, I looked up
To a tiny opening in the roof of the cave
Where a ray of light pierced through
And shot like a heavenly visitor
Into the water,
with miraculous effect.

The light fell like a falling star
And for some reason no one could explain
Deep in the water, formed a bright green star
That sparkled 15 feet beneath the waves.

I dived into the sea
And swam through cool dark water till I saw the green star
With her luminous blue tail
And suddenly brilliant light was on my hands.

I, moving through my darkened underwater cosmos
Struck upon this vein of brilliance.

Utterly transfigured, all my being flowed with light.
I, joyous, rose up through the water in the star's bright tail
Till bursting through the surface into air
I felt the light fall radiant on my laughing face.

And treading water in this unexpected glory
Laughed again and reached up into light transfiguring
And cried out to the captain of the boat
"Is this how we arrive in heaven,
Emerging from the watery dark whilst following the star
Unique to us?"

The surface of the water, crossed by light,
Refracted on the cave's roof,
Danced with accompanying delight

And I, returning to my boat once more
Moved off into the dark baptismal water of the cave

and from the benediction of the falling star
Found all the sparkling sea, cold on my flesh,
Preparing me for resurrected life
And tingling with the brightening salt of grace.






Sarah de Nordwall July 2006

Love is like the changing room in Mr Benn's shop

Love is like the changing room
In Mr Benn's shop.

You know, "As if by magic, the shop-keeper appeared"
And let you choose the costume you desired
And led you to the room
Where all roads change.

And stepping out beyond the door
The world is entirely new
The landscape and the sky transformed
And so are you.

Love is like a window
In an office wall.

You must have been mistaken
But suddenly the view
No longer looks out on a Croydon Car Park
No, in every hue,
Segments of exquisite glass
Have suddenly made bright
With promise and transfiguring joy
An ordinary sight.

And every vehicle merely parked
Seems now poised or at rest
A tiny pause before "they're off"
On some heroic quest.

Love is not blind
It sees the world
As it was first intended
When intimacy, joy and grace
Were passionately blended.

The world is as a Burning Bush
And that Celestial fire
That sometimes hides from
World-worn eyes
Is the source of your desire.

From Holy Joy and Holy Chaos
The spiritual world arises
As Love itself breathes destiny in
And sprinkles in surprises.

Awake North wind and Come thou South
And blow upon my Garden
And see where the vine is flourishing
The pomegranates growing.

Who is this
That comes up from the wilderness
Leaning on her Beloved?

I am come into my Garden,
My love shall not be hurried.

I am my beloved's
And my beloved is mine.
From a well of living waters
Let us drink Celestial Wine!




Sarah de Nordwall November 2007




Mr Benn is my favourite cartoon character, who sprang upon the world in 1971. The following article about him is pure delight.. how could it not be; beginning as it does with the words "Mr Benn lives at No. 52 Festive Road...". Thank you, illustrator David McKee for your joy and wisdom in animated form.


The final verses of the poem reference different quotations from the Song of Songs.  Ch7 v13, Ch3 v6, Ch8 v 5, Ch 5 v1, Ch6 v3 and Ch4 v15.   If you want a gorgeous treat you can hear it being sung in Hebrew here, where it also appears written in Hebrew and English. Thank you Mechon-Mamre.org  for all your work, singing and glorious proclaiming.