Poem Night

We are back from Fiji with tans and fond memories. I will write more when I can add some of the pictures and have time to tell the stories. In the mean time I wanted to share about the poetry night we participated in with the Anglican pastor friends, Mike and Ann. It was a dinner party before we left for Fiji where in each person brought a poem to read aloud and then an accompaning song to listen to as you sipped on a relevant beverage. It was a delightful evening and I highly recommend both skeptics and poetry lovers to round up some friends to have your own poetry night. It was great fun to hear the variety of poems and the equally thought provoking songs. I think everyone enjoyed preparing for the evening and diving into a poetry search to find a poem to share. I especially enjoyed the following one as it was written by a new friend and attendee of the evening, Richard. I have reproduced it here with his permission. It won't be the same without his lovely wife reading it out loud in the candle lit moment but I hope it touches you whose face is extra special to me or you wouldn't be reading this blog.

Faces

I look at faces,
Catching glimpses
Through the windows
of the soul.
Sounds voyeuristic?
I’m unrepentant -
It’s not a question
of self-control
Cos these windows at least
Open onto the street,
So I look at faces

Faces of strangers,
faces of friends
Windows upon windows
without end.
Rooms lit with love,
rooms dark with pain,
Tears unwept
into lives that need rain.

I look at faces
Catching traces
Of another’s humanity.
Sometimes my eyes
Catching other eyes
Catching people
looking back at me
And I cannot say why
We both look quickly away

Faces of beauty,
Some that are marred;
Seeing loveliness
In the physically scarred;
Seeing ugliness
In an almost perfect form
Frozen faces
dying to be warm.

I look at faces
For God’s graces
Look for his image
Ev’rywhere I go.
A face can move me,
A face can scare me
But beyond all this I know:
In this darkness
the divine spark is
Why I look at faces.