a seagull skims the spray
It is a lovely thing that in the Genesis story a whole day is given over to the wild things of the sea and sky, the flying and diving creations that inhabit elements other than ours, but who are also the work of God’s hand and the delight of His mind. They exist of course for God’s glory and for their own good purposes but perhaps they are also His words to us and provide us with living images of our own thoughts and prayers.
This fifth of my seven roundels for the primal week of Genesis can be heard by clicking the ‘play’ button or the roman Numeral and is preceded by the verses in Genesis Chapter One that inspired it. These poems will be gathered together with others in ‘Parable and Paradox’ my next book of poetry, to be published by Canterbury Press in the summer of 2016.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
With open wings a seagull skims the spray,
Sounding the depth below, a great whale sings,
Your Spirit moves amongst them as they play
With open wings.
Now open me to all your Spirit brings,
Move in me too as I begin to pray,
That love may ripple out in shining rings.
Speak to my soul through all you made this day,
Through all that swims and flies and swoops and swings,
And let your Spirit lift the words I say
With open wings.
sounding the depth below a great whale sings
Malcolm Guite 