Peter Stiles: ‘Lark Ascending’, ‘Mount Athos’ and ‘Tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams’
Lark Ascending
There is a space between desire
where sound filters thoughts
and pure landscapes shine.
A bird, a sky, a summer,
the rolling English hills
and dulcet memories.
The Yorkshire Dales that day.
A violin notes my reverie,
with glimpses of a stream,
a Roman road, a foursome,
in silence, then in awe.
The lark ascends
in traceries of flight,
catching my breath with song
then out of sight.
Peter Stiles
Mount Athos
(for Scott Cairns)
Searching for a place where life is prayer,
where heyschia endures through night and day,
and prayer gives way to sleep and then to prayer,
I read your book, memorable Mount Athos moments,
mystérion ever before your thoughts.
In the hard walks and the cold nights,
you found a brilliance in the darkness,
a balm for your bruised travelling,
uncovering monastic treasures for the soul.
In this Lenten light I long to learn
where I can find that pilgrim’s place of peace,
a mountain in this mind of sighs
to lift my hungry heart to things divine.
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