When things start
to get out of hand beloved ones
think of me, my hands are larger than yours
and my arms encircle the world,
I see it all, what can be done,
what cannot be done and what will come,
my love is great,
great enough for everything there is,
so let go in trust
and feel my trust returned in you.

DF. W-S 2024 XXXV/XII

The light was soft and gentle
when I went out for my early walk this morning,
the pavement was wet and littered with magnolia blossom,
everything was fresh, the air was filled with birdsong and the scent of spring
and I felt as if I was making my way through the garden of a tea house in Japan,
as I entered the park I imagined the Master walking along beside me,
no words passed between us, the silence was uncomplicated
and conveyed everything that needed to be said,|
everything was in its place and so were we.

DF. W-S 2024 XXXV / XI

I am never alone,
even when I am out in the early hours,
even in the centre of this overcrowded city
there are curious foxes to keep me company
robins, thrushes and blackbirds to listen to
and occasionally another early walker
to nod and grunt at as we pass each other,
but the best thing is that I feel part of it all,
and that the same light that causes this
world to turn and the birds to sing causes my heart to sing too.

DF. W-S 2024 XXXV / X

I no longer have much time
for the conventions of my profession,
after forty odd years working as a psychotherapist
I have pretty well worked out what I am good for and what I’m not,
people have so many different ways of surviving
and managing life’s wounds
that one size can’t possibly fit all,
I have finally come to understand that healing
doesn’t come from the rules and techniques anyway,
it doesn’t even come from me, it’s something that emerges
through the quality of relationship my client and I have together,
these days I work in the way that I can, not in the way that I should
and the only work that works is if I step back when the lights come on.

DF. W-S 2024 XXXV/IX

Maybe Christ was able to help
the sick, the blind and the poor because unlike
the clever, the sophisticated and the powerful
their suffering had rendered them soft and humble,
so instead of turning on each other they were
able understand what he was saying and turned to God instead.

DF. W-S 2024 XXXV/VIII

The rich in coin
are poor in spirit,
preachers preach
because they must learn,
terrorists intimidate
because they are terrified,
politicians want power
because they have none
and the sly and devious
feel worthless inside,
only those who love
walk in the ways of God.

DF. W-S 2024 XXXV/VII

Each time
I read my poems
I give something of
myself away, it’s like a little death,
something I have to suffer a little grief over
because if I don’t then what’s waiting its turn to
reach me meets a deaf ear and turns away to
find the ear of somebody who can hear it.

DF. W-S 2024 XXXV/VI