August 25,  2018

HAMMER

If I came back from the dead,

what would I want to be? It

would be a hammer of course.

So solid, so basic, so strong.

A hammer…. Like being 911 -

providing help at a moment’s call.

But I know I won’t be back from the

dead. I’ll be in the soft dark unknown -

with God so solid, so basic, so strong.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

August 25, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the Establishment - and nothing more corrupting.”  

A. J. P. Taylor [1906- 1990]

Questions:

Who are the Establishment?

What does it mean to make peace with this who?

August 24, 2018

BLOOD SPILLS

Blood spills on stones and dirt -

precious blood on the altar cloth,

the sacrifice on the tablecloth of earth -

soldiers trying to escape from

snipers and mortars on the hills

above the road to where they

thought they would probably die -

crying  - praying - hoping that this

war and all wars would  end right now.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

August 24, 2018 

Thought for today: 

"No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic." 

A. J. P. Taylor [1906- 1990]

August 23, 2018

THE FACE OF A TREE

Are trees self-conscious

when people pause to stare

at their bark - their skin -

their face - to touch and check

out their texture - especially

when it’s rough  and tough -

as if it had acne or pimples

or other teen age skin problems

years and years ago, but the

scars and rough skin remain?

Or does wind and weather,

rain and cold and snow,

become their greater worry -

or lovers carving their initials

into the heart of this tree -

this tree of the cross - knowing

these two will be broken

or broken up by next spring -

and there will be more stories -

many more carvings to come?

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

August 23, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“Reading  is  sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought.” 

Arthur Helps [1813-1875]

August 22, 2018

CHURCH STEEPLES

Do steeples and crosses, 

do churches and cemeteries, 

still stir up in us a God, “Hmm”, 

a God advertisement -  that 

God is above us and around 

us and underneath us? 

Or has all that ended and now  

it’s up to babies fingers, oceans, 

mountains, the morning shower, 

or  autumn leaves to get us to 

pause and hear God’s, “I am here” - 

hovering like a fly in your midst? 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018