Sunset

"what we need is commonly acknowledged rules that protect the individual because we value us as individuals... one of the great harms that Darwinism has done is fostering this idea of a free market as a basis to build a decent society on - it is not. The market which is allowed to buy and sell anything unconstrained will destroy human dignity" - Tim Flannery


While sitting at home today and making wigs, I've listened to three very interesting podcasts. Each of the speakers have had very different, yet strangely complementary takes on how the world operates, and I have been encouraged to think over the importance of not putting ourselves and our selfish desires at the centre of the universe, despite the fact that our life is a precious thing. A thought that has come back to me most clearly is that we have been given a world of good gifts - other people, education, natural resources, material blessings - and we should learn to enjoy them and look after them rather than take advatage of them or else they might be lost...

The first two podcasts were from Conversations, a programme on ABC 702, the second was from the sermon blog on my church's website. On Conversations I heard Sheila Given talk of her experiences growing up in Northern Island before moving to Tasmania and becoming a Quaker, the tipping point that made her ready to leave was hearing her daughter say she 'could smell the Catholics'. Sheila got her PhD at 64, and is an advocate of life-long learning.

Then, in order to do some learning, I listened to Tim Flannery, and honestly, I don't know how I have managed to live this long without paying attention to what he has to say.

To continue my day of learning, I listened to Phil Britton talk about Psalm 51, about guilt, adultery, Freud, Christina Aguilera, and - perhaps most importantly- God's compassion and the offer of atonement for sin, guilt and shame, made possible through the painful death and triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And I don't know how in the light of all these thought provoking podcasts which have set my brain ticking today how I can possibly pick a youthful poem for the day that does any justice to anything. However, that is the challenge I set for myself, and having read over my shortlist, I've picked 'Sunset', in the hope that it might somehow echo the big things - moving to the other side of world, environmental conservation, religious/political conflict, guilt/sin/compassion/atonement - that i've been considering today.


Poem 6 - Sunset, 24th September 2000, age 17
Soft in the sand
a breeze against my back,
I cry at the thought
of what i will lack.
As I sit still,
after a full, long day,
I study the sky
and to heaven I pray.

Surrounded by beauty -
the sky golden and pink,
above me the sun
is beginning to sink.
Down beyond the waves
and out of my sight,
the powerful sun falls
despite of its might.

This beach is my place,
where I come, in the light,
but now, dark approaches
soon it will be night.
How different it is, now that
the sun has sunk low -
the atmosphere changes
but I don’t want to go.

Alone on the beach,
the moon slowly appears,
and strange as it seems
this lessens my tears.
As i realise the night sky,
is a wondrous sight -
across the dark ocean there
rides a silver beam of light.

This silver memory
beautiful and free,
reflects the great sun
which lets all things be;
So, at the end of your day
when night forces you under
let me be your moon,
to reflect all your wonder.



...create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me...
Psalm 51:10