Music & Poetry

God of the Mess – Peter Kearney

Chorus:
God of the mess that we’re in,
You still bless us and feel every bump when we fall;
You see the good in our hearts
and you know how we struggle
You fathered and mothered us all.

1.
You see through the eyes of the child on the street
The man on the dole who drinks down defeat
The mother alone – her rent overdue
It’s not what you want but it’s true.

2.
The old man confused, the junkie in gaol,
The baby all bruised- a victim so frail;
Good things go wrong, we try and we fail
Over and over again.

3.
But the seasons turn round and wounds they can mend.
A neighbour comes round- you laugh in the end.
You take a deep breath and count up to ten
And start it all over again.

Final Chorus:
God of the mess that we’re in,
You still bless us and feel every bump when we fall;
You see the good in our hearts
and you know how we struggle
You fathered and mothered us all. (x3)
Oh yes, we know you did –
You fathered and mothered us all.

I Am – Kirtana

Before the body, before the story, before the name
Beyond the mind’s attempt to find or explain
Before the breath, beyond the sense of pleasure or of pain
And after death, and after death, I am

Within the heart, the whole and part of everything I see
Behind the eyes, beyond disguise, reflecting me
At the silent core, and yet before phenomena began
And after it, and after it, I am

Many differences separate us on the surface, yes.
But I cannot find a boundary in consciousness
And when you ask me, where does awareness begin and does it end
I have to say, I have to say I’ve always been

Within the body, without the body, not subject to
Changing moods or states of health or points of view
Without needs before the deeds and the monuments of man
And after them, and after them, I am

At the silent core, and yet before phenomena began
And after it, and after it, I am

Do You Hear the Music? – Kirtana

Your Beloved calls you here today
To ask you for this dance; what will you say?
Are you going to throw the chance away?
And do you hear the music?

I know you’ve got a lot of things to do,
But I think the world could turn a time or two
Without all your precious plans
And you could stop to hear the music
In your heart, in your heart

Maybe you should give your mind a rest
And put its main assumption to the test;
Just let go and see who leads the best,
Surrender to the music

Maybe you don’t need to understand
Maybe these are steps that can’t be planned
Funny how your feet know where to land
When you listen to the music
In your heart, in your heart

Your Beloved calls you here today
To ask you for this dance; what will you say?
Are you going to throw the chance away? —
Or listen to the music, listen to the music
In your heart…

“Everything Is Waiting for You”

Written and read by David Whyte

After Derek Mahon

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings.

Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the
conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

Prayer of Thomas Merton

“The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver