Readings for Victims of the Victorian Fires in Australia

I share with you some of the poetry that is being offered by Celebrants in Australia who are lamenting the terrible tragedies of fire and flood.

My thoughts and prayers are with all those families who are bereaved and who's lives will never be the same again.

The Fire
by Robyn O’Connell

The tall gum tree stood proud,
with branches reaching high into the sky,
reaching for just a piece of sunlight to nourish it.
Native animals inhabited an area that a human had yet to tread.
The birds sang from the tree tops,
a cockatoo screeching to be heard
over the cacophony of other birds.
Then it came,
stealing so quietly,
before erupting with a roar,
and the birds fell silent,
the smoke took over.
Within no time the birds had gone,
the green had gone,
all that was left was black charred remains.
“It is over” said one to another, “there is no more”.
“You are wrong” said the other, “look there on the ground,
a tender green tendril emerges from the ashes,
it grows and a new life begins





As you huddle around the torn silence,
Each by this lonely deed exiled
To a solitary confinement of soul,
May some small glow from what has been lost
Return like the kindness of candlelight.
As your eyes strain to sift
This sudden wall of dark
And no one can say why
In such a forsaken, secret way,
This death was sent for . . .
May one of the lovely hours
Of memory returnLike a field of ease
Among these gravelled days.
May the Angel of WisdomEnter this ruin of absence
And guide your minds
To receive this bitter chalice
So that you do not damage yourselves
By attending only at the hungry altar
Of regret and anger and guilt.
May you be given some inkling
That there could be something else at work
And that what to you now seems
Dark, destructive and forlorn,
Might be a destiny that looks different
From inside the eternal script.
May vision be granted to you
To see this with the eyes of providence.
May your loss become a sanctuary
Where new presence will dwell
To refine and enrich
The rest of your life
With courage and compassion.
And may your lost loved one
Enter into the beauty of eternal tranquillity,
In that place where there is no more sorrow
Or separation or mourning or tears.

John O'Donohue(Benedictus. A Book of Blessings)


Heartache

The hurt is almost unbearable -
Yet we will live through it.
It is because we now feel such deep pain,
It is because the inner ache is so great,
That we realise how much we loved him.
And yet the agony inside
Gives us a strange comfort.
It tells us how much we loved him.
We really would not want to feel any other way –
Because the grief and heartache we feel
Bears witness to the depth of our love.
We know that thoughts of him
Will ever bring us comfort.