An Emerson member who attended a recent worship service built around the practice of Taizé (part of Emerson’s Summer Assembly) was inspired to write the following poem.  The author wishes to remain anonymous.

June 29, 2014

Taizé

Silence.

I close my eyes.
I hear the scratch of pen on paper.
I feel the breeze of bodies walking past.
I sense soft footsteps on the carpet.

A brass bowl on the chancel
fills with burdens of those present.
An ambulance siren breaks the silence,
a reminder of burdens outside our sanctuary.

Voices rise to praise the opening of roses,
as flames flash from the brass bowl,
our burdens gone in a blaze
bright and sudden as a solar flare.

Ashes, or the memory of ashes,
Lead us to the spirit that is life.
Grace. Hope. Love.
I depart with my heart in a holy place.