Glynis Goyns

one with creation

You enfold us in Your arms,

a small, but integral part of Your creation.

We feel Your breath

as it stirs new life and hope in us.

We hear, as we rest our heads upon Your breast,

the steady pulse of Your heart beating.

But do we know ourselves

as creatures that ride the winds of change,

shaped and reshaped in endless process

as You continue to mould a universe,

vast and star-spangled,

rich in diversity, colour and shape,

yet intricately interwoven

as a thing of great beauty?

Who are we? Who are we… 

A single pulse in this wild throb of life,

touched to harmony as we strike a chord together

in Your majestic symphony of creation.

You are One.

The world is one.

Help us to be as one

in our thinking and our being.

Rough-shod

Rough-shod we stride forth,

leather-soled,

scattering patterned footprints

devoid of spiritual authenticity.

Yet Jesus calls for each toe-indent,

each calloused heel,

to mark the imprint of our footsteps

gently overlaid on his;

to feel the dust encased between our toes,

vulnerable to thorns,

to the texture of his way,

with bruised arches and feet tender to the heat,

but still unhurried in the search for truth.

With feet bare,

I stand and pray

for courage and sensitivity

to walk the road you unfold before me,

leaving behind me

a gentle trail of naked footprints only.

breathe

This relentless rattle and thrum of human life…

to what purpose and in which direction?

So brashly and wantonly overlaid

upon the gentler, more richly varied sounds

of your creation, comfortable in its space,

its rhythm steady and even as your heartbeat

and the footsteps of Jesus

along the dusty, winding paths

of our individual and communal existence.

Listen, O listen,

to the call of the loerie

the cacophony of bird song.

Look up and feel the sun upon your face,

warm as God’s touch,

his breath stirring your soul to life.

Breathe.

Glynis Goyns is an environmental and social justice activist, living in Cape Town. She believes in the intrinsic inter-dependence of all life forms, calling for mutual respect and a celebration of  diversity. Her visual perspective is shaped by a musical understanding of reality as rhythm, harmony, synchrony and dissonance in life.