Here is the second of the five dialogues on the two great commandments I described in my last post. The poems are taken from my new book Parable and Paradox, available from Amazon or on order from any bookshop. do come to the launch at Girton college on 14th June at 5:15 if you are free. This sequence will also feature on my new record Songs and Sonnets. Click here to learn more and support the project if you wish. This second poem in the series reflects on what it might mean to love with all my soul. As always you can hear the poem by clicking on the title or the play button.
With all my soul? I scarcely know my soul.
The age I live in doesn’t think it’s there,
They cut me up, where you would make me whole,
And think your promise only empty air.
They say I’m hormones, chemical extremes,
Enzymes unwinding blindly, selfish genes,
Just empty gestures and repeated memes.
With all my soul? I don’t know what that means.
Before the first life stirred my spirit called you,
I knew you when I wove you in the dark,
I made you more than all the forms that mould you,
And kindled in your depth my hidden spark
So let them say your soul is empty air,
Love with your soul and you will know its there.
Malcolm Guite 