A voice speaks peace

Back to the Taize poetry ...

As always, our three weeks in Taize this summer was filled with lots of wonderful encounters with loads of different people. Taize strikes me as a place where you get to meet "real people": not because the people are necessarily any different to those you meet elsewhere, but because we encounter one another as we really are. Taize is a safe space where we allow ourselves to experience the vulnerability that comes from removing our masks and asking others to see the "real" me. This is no accident, it is one of the outward expressions of the experience of the unconditional love of God through a routine of prayer and silence.

It is this that makes for the rich and meaningful encounters in Taize. It is this that makes for lasting friendships and the tears of Sunday morning departures. This poem is mainly inspired by an encounter with one particular person I met this summer, but I think it speaks of more than just their story.

A Voice Speaks Peace

A dark and lonely suffering

Cuts deep

And scars the heart

And bleeding flesh

The blessed relief

Of searing pain

The only way

To feel

Until

Another voice speaks

Peace

In sharing

And in silence

And the soul can sing

As scars still tell

The hidden stories

Of a hurting no-one sees

And a pain which will not heal

But while

The darkness does not shrink

A shard of light

Shines

Through coloured glass

And hope

Lives

And the soul can sing