Category: Poem

Safe Haven

Weobley Village, NW Herefordshire. Image credit: Ian Greig

To the tune ‘Londonderry Air’

Please stay at home, while danger prowls around you,
    Don’t leave your house, except in case of need;
Please stay indoors, for your sake and for others’,
    Keep to the rules, in thought and word and deed.
Please stay inside, until this war is over,
    Speak on the phone, while social groups are banned;
And don’t forget, we’re all in this together,
    You’re not alone — support is close at hand.

Please stay at home, secure in your safe haven,
    Enjoy the day, and don’t forget to smile;
And in the evening, rest in quiet contentedness,
    Remember this — it’s only for a while.
May God protect you through the hours of darkness,
    And keep you safe from lurking fears within;
And bring you through the night of doubt and wakefulness,
    Until you see the next new day begin.

We cannot tell how long our isolation,
    How many moons will pass while we endure;
We wait in hope for signs of consolation,
    An end to feeling anxious and unsure.
But this we know — it will not last for ever,
    The time will come when all will be revealed;
When friends can meet, and we can be together,
    And all our loneliness and hurts are healed.

Lesley Floyd, March 2020

Locked But Still Open


They may have locked my church, and shut God’s house today


But they cannot close my faith; they can’t take that away


God is not just in that building, He is always and everywhere


In the sky, a flower in birdsong, in a Lamb and in the very air


No one can cancel Him, my heart’s open, not undone


For I know that He is with us, each and everyone


The building provided sanctuary, a calm and quiet place


For me to gather thoughts and this troubled world to face


So in the great outdoors, in the wind, the rain and sun


I lift my face to heaven and speak to the Almighty One


I pray for all my friends and loved ones, for Him to give them strength

And courage to endure this time for however long the length


I pray for all those I do not know, in this world to us He gave


And that I should keep my faith in Him though these times are very grave!


Credit: Peter Wilson, churchwarden of St Peter’s, Pudleston (in the AONB east of Leominster in between the Tenbury and Bromyard main roads).